A Time for Chaos
by Countess Verona Dracula
Summary: (Sequel to Ripples in Time) Free of the Order, Van Helsing has been living in Transylvania for a year now. But an old, forgotten nemesis (NOT Dracula) soon comes back to haunt him. The question: is he up for doing battle with a god?
1. Prologue: Into Hell

**Disclaimer**: I own none of these characters or places. They belong to Stephen Sommers. I do, however, my OC's and the plot. Hopefully this time I won't be tempted to kill them.  
  
**Warnings**: This is the sequel to my fic 'Ripples In Time.' I'd suggest you read that before you read this, otherwise you'll become very confused! And this has spoilers for the end of a) the movie Van Helsing and b) my fic Ripples in Time. You've been warned!  
  
**Summary**: [Sequel to Ripples in Time] Free of the Order, Van Helsing has been living contentedly in Transylvania for a year now. But an old nemesis he had forgotten about (NOT Dracula) soon comes back to haunt him. The question: is he up for doing battle with a god?  
  
**Author's Note**: _I'm baaaaaaaack_! I've been mulling over my ideas for a sequel and finally decided to get my butt in gear. I'd like to thank all the reviewers for the last chapter of Ripples In Time and I hope to see some of you again! I'd especially like to give a shout out to HyperCaz, who was there from the beginning of Ripples in Time, Irish Anor, who was my first reviewer _ever_, and Squeekie, who has been nothing but supportive and has just posted her first fic!  
  
Also, this fic's plot is very much up in the air. That means I am at the mercy of my muses. Bear with me since this fic is _extremely_ subject to change.

* * *

Prologue:  
Into Hell  
  
The night was cold and frosty; befitting the Carpathian Mountains. The solitary figure didn't seem to mind it at all. It was a slight figure, only a few inches over five feet, and made to seem smaller by the huge, thick cloak it wrapped around itself. Startling gold eyes watched from under the hood and cowl, flickering from place to place disinterestedly. Their strides were short and powerful, but graceful. The figure was entirely at ease, even though they traveled unarmed. They even gave off a powerful aura of confidence. That was well, because power was also radiating off the deceptively small figure.  
  
It didn't not take long to reach its destination: a stand of trees bitten by the icy wind that formed a roughly circular shape. Long stripes of silver light shone boldly through the skeletal ring. The moon was full that night; somewhere in the distance an eerie howl rose. The figure smiled and threw back its head, bathing in the sound, before entering the ring of trees and standing in the center, eyes raised. It would not be long now. The moon was almost directly overhead.  
  
When it was, the light was no longer bold and silver. It grew shifty, restless, turning the faintest shade of red. The trees began to rattle too. The figure remained completely unnerved. That was half the trick, after all. Stand completely still, in the center of the ring of trees, held in stasis between the two circles: the full, pregnant moon and the barren, natural ring. It was that special moment in time when the ethereal and the worldly would eclipse one another, and open doorways to worlds the mundane only guess at. Worlds the figure could traipse across with ease.  
  
The time was ripe, the gateway opened. It swept the slight figure up into its grasp and suddenly there was no one at all in the clearing, not even a footprint or a shadow. All grew deathly still in the mountains bordering Transylvania.  
  
It was not so for the figure, who was now traipsing the dimensions. They had not been taken exactly where they wanted, but this was understood as they were not expected. Normally, the being she was going to visit would have to be aware of you and want you to come to allow you into its realm, but to one as well versed in the ways of magic as the lone figure, it was a matter of timing and navigation.  
  
The figure ended its joyride across time and space rather quickly and found itself wrapped in sudden warmth. That didn't surprise them, this _was_ Hell after all, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.  
  
"It's rather hot." They said dryly.   
  
The heat vanished and the black void began to fill slowly with grey, until at last the figure found itself in a smallish stone room with a single, flickering torch. There was a man standing at the far wall of this room, staring up at the torch. He had long, silky black hair, and while his back was to the dimension traveler, they knew exactly who it was.  
  
"It's been a while since I've seen Vladislaus, the greatest of my children. How is he?" They asked in sultry tones, advancing slowly and leisurely.   
  
'Dracula' turned slightly, smiled, and then vanished. The room changed abruptly too. Now it was vast and well-lit, decorated like the palace of some Greek ruler. At the end of the hall was a dais of gold and lined with blue silk pillows. Lounging on them was a woman with a waterfall of golden hair and twinkling, sea-blue eyes. Her skin was white as foam and she was clad in a sky-blue Greek-style toga with golden braid wrapped around it.  
  
"Oh, he's in quite a spot of trouble." The woman giggled. "Lucifer has grown very angry with Vlad Dracula and I must agree he wasn't doing his job. And _he_ is the greatest of _your_ children?"  
  
"Don't try flattery with me." The figure advanced, throwing off their hood so that the woman she addressed would recognize them in full. "He was meant to be the greatest of my many, many children, but he grew blinded by rage and hate for a certain Gabriel Van Helsing. The man you failed to lure to his doom."  
  
"Well let's not point fingers. Remember what power I wield... I could so easily realign a few threads and have you take, say, a left turn where you might've made a right and end up against a group of vampire hunters eager for blood. And then you'd be nothing but a pile of dust." The being known as the Wavewriter said silkily, toying with a lock of golden hair.  
  
"You know full well that I cannot be so lightly disposed of." There was a deadly edge to the voice now.  
  
"Oh, but the form you are trapped in on earth can." The Wavewriter shot back with an almost flirtatious giggle. It was cut off when strong fingers were wrapped around her throat and she was slammed into a wall. She only continued to smile, knowing what granted the person she talked to the ability to move like quicksilver across the floor and pick her up one-handed like some kind of toy.  
  
"But I am not bound by those rules here, am I? I am at my full glory when I am not trapped down there. And you would not want to try my patience," They punctuated this with a suddenly tighter grip that cracked the woman's trachea like a twig. "Would you?" The Wavewriter slid to the ground and ran her hand over her throat, which healed on its own.  
  
"No, I would not want to try you." She whispered. "But if you know ways to reclaim your former glory away from the mortal world, why do you linger there?"  
  
"Because the husk I must call home is not so easily taken. It puts up an awful fight sometimes, you understand?" The figure backed away, ambling around the large hall. "And I happen to like that place. So much joy to be sucked out still... But, you understand, I'd like to be able to live in it without that pesky mortal shell business."  
  
"But I thought that your shell was no longer mortal?" The Wavewriter said slowly, confused. "I remember the day it became otherwise, and I know that I have not altered that fate"  
  
"Oh, compared to me, it is a mere mortal." The figure whispered. The room rumbled slightly with the burst of power it exuded. "And besides... my full nature cannot be unleashed up the world it now resides in. Of course, I don't want it to... yet. First, that world must be in a state suitable to my name."  
  
"Ahh yes, Dark Anarchy they used to call you." The Wavewriter smiled.  
  
The figure grinned back, wickedly. "I need your help. I need to melt the walls between the dimensions and let them all bleed together and fill that world with the essence of places like this that allows me to be what I truly am."  
  
"Can't you do that on your own?" She asked quizzically. "Your power exceeds even mine."  
  
"Oh, I can do that on my own and I intend to. There's just one pesky problem... Gabriel Van Helsing. I don't need you to kill him, just... distract him awhile. I know this is within your capabilities." The figure smiled.  
  
"It certainly is." The Wavewriter cackled. "I'll toy with him, torment him, turn his life into a living hell far before you turn the world into it."  
  
"Good." The figure purred. "Very good. It may be that I will have a hand in this too. It may be that he will help me, unknowingly... for my guise is not one he would guess."  
  
The Wavewriter smiled. "It will be as old, won't it? When our ilk roamed the world and crossed the dimensions at will, nightmares wandering all around us and filling our ears with the sweet shrieks of anguish..."  
  
"Oh, no." The figure smiled, gold eyes flashing. "It will be far better."

* * *

A/N-- Yes, the chapter title is a play on the title of Ripples In Time's prologue. I couldn't resist! Oh, BTW, I actually do own something... the plot, the Wavewriter, and our mystery guest. Review and tell me how you like! 


	2. Chapter 1: Unusual Adventures

A/N-- Here's the first chapter with some shameless Gabriel/Anna fluffiness!! I know the genre says Mystery/Romance, but there will be action in this too. It's just that this time you aren't gonna know the enemy for a while, so it's a bit more mystery...  
  
**The Wishmasters**- YES, I WAS CRYING WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS.... I hope you're happy... LOL. I'm glad you enjoyed the prologue, it was fun to write. You read Ripples in Time, right? I'm trying to remember...  
**jenni-nikole**- Thanks for the review! Have fun with this chapter!

* * *

Chapter One:  
Unusual Adventures  
  
The two horses raced along through the woods of Transylvania at breakneck speed, speed for which they were known. No one, perhaps, knew how fast they could go better than their riders. They also knew how important such speed could be in dire situations.  
  
Situations like this.  
  
The riders drew to a stop abruptly; the one in front looked around carefully, then cursing looked up at the sky. The second soon drew up beside him.  
  
"I think we might be late." He moaned.  
  
"Are you sure of the time that was set?" She hissed back.  
  
"Not exactly." He replied, shifting on his horse.  
  
"This is what I get for leaving you in charge. Come on, I know a faster way!" She called to her horse, shooting off at a gallop.   
  
All he could do was follow as closely as he could as they dove through the trees, his heart pounding in his chest. He swore again when a low hanging branch nearly decked him, and again when some pine needles scratched his cheek. Could he go a single day without getting bruised, scratched or cut while racing across Transylvania...?  
  
Even something as mundane as going out to dinner becomes an adventure with two Vampire Hunters involved. Especially when those two Vampire Hunters are Gabriel Van Helsing and Anna Valerious.  
  
The problem was that Van Helsing had gone to the nearest city the day prior to secure reservations at a restaurant for the next day. But they had just returned from a particularly nasty fight with a werewolf that had been terrorizing the countryside, and he was feeling tired. Of course, this was half the reason for going, to celebrate their victory and their year anniversary of fighting evil together in Transylvania, but he had been so tired that he had neglected to remember what time he had set for dinner. The fact that he and Anna had woken up late that day hadn't been helpful either. Now they were rushing to arrive at what they _hoped_ was in time.  
  
Van Helsing's thoughts slipped away from him as he rode, being careful to still follow Anna. He could hardly believe that he had been away from the Order a year. Not that they cared. They probably still wanted him dead. A year of freedom, roaming Transylvania with Anna in search of monsters to destroy. It was idyllic, even the near-death part of it. Because all of it was spent with Anna.  
  
Carl, his best friend, had been dead for a year too. But you could hardly tell that he _was_ dead. There was scarce a day when they hadn't seen his ghost, and he was just as annoying in death as he had been in life, if not more so, because now his favorite topic was the blossoming relationship between Gabriel and Anna. True, they were living together when they weren't out fighting. True, they'd gone out to dinner or to a play together before. True, there had been times when Carl had popped in on them kissing. But _still_. Carl was prattling on about _marriage_ and _children_, (he'd already named them all) two topics that never failed to make the battle-hardened Hunters quail slightly.  
  
But Van Helsing had begun to consider such things seriously. Well maybe not the children part, that made him blush, but the marriage part. He'd begun to consider that very seriously. He loved Anna, he was sure of it. And he was pretty sure that she loved him back. But their line of work was deadly and he was afraid that if they did get married they'd just lose each other...  
  
"Van Helsing? Gabriel?" Anna's voice brought him zipping back to reality. They had arrived in town already, it appeared, and she had dismounted and waited beside him. "Were you thinking?" He nodded. "It's a miracle you didn't get lost." She grinned, shaking her head. He smiled back, dismounting and using to action to plant a swift kiss on her lips. The gypsy princess laughed softly and took his arm as they walked into town.  
  
It was one of the nicer settlements in Transylvania, with cobblestone streets and well-built houses. It was here that they did most of their shopping, if any, and where they relaxed in-between hunts if they were too tired to go to Budapest, so they knew it well. Their favorite restaurant, the Trinity, was just across the way from the church. Passing it, Van Helsing could not help but eye the new gargoyles on the bell tower warily, a gesture Anna caught.  
  
"Gabriel, give it up." She groaned. "The people here are proud of them, they're rumored to have come from the Notre Dame itself!"  
  
"Exactly! They come _from Notre Dame_." He retorted, still looking over his shoulder at the church.  
  
"Yes, yes, I know. Those are the nastiest sort and you should know because you've fought them before. But they've been there for half a year already and nothing has happened, I think it's time you stop worrying about them." Anna lectured.  
  
"Anna," Gabriel began, catching her elbow and turning her around. At the same time, he pulled a rose from seemingly thin air, although when she wasn't looking he had picked it off a rosebush by the church. "Stop being so grouchy. Dinner will be no fun without your smile." She smiled again, accepting the rose and then running it lightly over her lips as though in thought.  
  
"What did I do to deserve you?" She asked with a growing smile and with genuine tenderness. How could she give him anything less? He had crossed time and dared fate for her sake.  
  
"I myself have yet to figure that out." Van Helsing laughed, offering her his arm as they made their way across the street to the Trinity.

* * *

"Is there anyone here by the name of Valerious? Anyone?" The man standing at the restaurant's door sighed dismally. He hated it when patrons were late. "Going once, going twice-" He bent over the book on the stand in front of him with his pen, about to scratch off the words 'Valerious, 2, 6:30.' His head jerked up at the sound of a shout.  
  
"_WAIT!"  
_  
Anna and Van Helsing rushed up to the desk where the man was calling off names, hair askew, eyes wide.  
  
"We're here." They both said breathlessly. The dour man raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Ah yes, the infamous Monster Hunters. Follow me, if you will." He said dryly, picking up two menus and starting off. Van Helsing and Anna sighed with relief and followed. They always left reservations of any kind under 'Valerious,' since Van Helsing was still uncomfortable with his name being out in the world.  
  
They got their favorite table, which was a stroke of luck, since it could rarely be gotten. It was situated in a sort of nook made by a bay window facing the church. There was always a fresh vase of flowers both on the table and on the shelf edging the bay window, so the air around it smelled sweetly no matter when they went. This time, the flowers were Anna's favorite, and filled her with a scent that made her feel especially playful, so she made Van Helsing sit with his back to the window. This always made him feel uncomfortable and vulnerable, and especially so tonight when they had been talking about the stone gargoyles they church had purchased from an antiques seller who claimed they were from Notre Dame. After they had ordered, Gabriel was still shifting in his seat and looking constantly over his shoulder.  
  
"Anna-"  
  
"Aren't these seats comfortable, Gabriel?" She purred, leaning back on her chair slightly and flashing him an almost seductive grin.  
  
"Well, yes, but-"  
  
"I'm enjoying the view of the church tonight. The moonlight outlines the gargoyles so well..." She trailed off, still smiling.  
  
"You know, it's really not funny. Someone could get hurt by those things." Van Helsing warned. Anna chuckled softly and leaned across the table, moving the vase of flowers aside with one hand and reaching up to stroke Van Helsing's cheek with the other.  
  
"I'm really enjoying tonight." She said with a more gentle smile. He caught her hand and kissed the knuckles, smiling back at the shiver that ran through her. No matter how long she knew him, he'd always be able to make her tingle with a single look or touch.  
  
"How can you say that so soon? It's only just begun." Gabriel laughed back.  
  
The fireworks were a bit early, however, and so was Anna's statement. Glass shattered all around them as the two gargoyles that had so far stood obediently on the church's roof came crashing through, roaring as they did. Patrons all around them screamed and began to panic, while Anna leapt back in alarm and reached for her sword- only to remember that she had taken it off before they left. She had no time to reach for the knife in her boot; Van Helsing knocked the table over on purpose and she had to duck to prevent getting conked on the head.  
  
"Watch where you're throwing tables Gabriel!" She shouted.  
  
"Consider it payback for the warlock's tower!" He shouted back as he quickly dove in behind her. The gargoyles were about five feet tall with wings barely large enough to carry them. Their claws and teeth were sharp, but they moved too slowly to catch most of their intended victims.  
  
Van Helsing reached for the pistol he always kept with him and fired at the nearest one, hitting it on its leathery shoulder. It howled with wordless rage and lunged at the table they hid behind; they each seized a leg and dragged it out of the way in time. But the movement backed them up against a wall and they realized that they were trapped. Then the second gargoyle leapt at the table, and they couldn't escape. Its heavy body smashed into the wood, cracking it in half and cutting both Hunters.   
  
Van Helsing dove out to the right of their hiding place, hitting his head on a nearby table that had yet to be destroyed, and was forced to roll away again when the injured gargoyle swiped at him with one clawed hand. Mid-roll, he cocked and fired again, hitting it this time in one leg. It fell to the ground, blood spewing onto the fine carpet.  
  
Anna had dove out to the left... and landed smack on the shattered window. She cried out as sharp pieces of glass cut her palms and knees, but didn't have time to worry about it. The gargoyle that had smashed the table was charging her, one of the table's broken legs held in one hand like a spear. Almost without thought, she pulled out the knife concealed in her boot and side-stepped the lunge, striking down quickly with the knife and slicing a clean cut down the arm holding the table leg. The piece of wood clattered to the ground as the wounded gargoyle almost flew out the window, howling. But when he turned back to the gypsy princess, he looked on her with renewed fury.  
  
Van Helsing's opponent didn't look too thrilled either. The Monster Hunter was quickly on his feet and preparing to fire again, only to realize that he had used his last bullet. There was no time to whine about it; the gargoyle was airborne now, soaring straight toward him with claws extended. He leapt out of the way and kicked a table so that it skidded into the monster's flight path. It had the desired effect, knocking the gargoyle over onto its side and splintering the table. What happened next was quite unexpected; the gargoyle threw a sort of temper tantrum. It started with breaking the table it had just crashed into, and then flinging the pieces at random people and objects around the room. The piece Gabriel was dealt was one of the table legs. It flew towards him before he could do anything, one of its sharp ends catching the side of his arm and drawing blood. He ignored the injury and picked up the table leg. It had some weight to it, it could conceivably be used as a weapon... He snuck up behind the raging gargoyle and leapt onto its back, legs wrapped firmly around its waist, and attempted repeatedly to stab it with the table leg. Naturally, it didn't want Van Helsing there, and began to rampage all through the fine restaurant like a bucking horse.  
  
Anna saw what Van Helsing was doing and spared a moment of her time to pray he'd be okay, but fast learned that the gargoyle she fought was an attention hog. He gave her no time to think of anything but him and his slashing claws as he struck down at her again and again, driving her backwards and spraying her with blood from his wounded arm. He had her backed all the way up against the far wall and was about to deal the killing blow when she ducked and stabbed him in the stomach with her knife. She didn't even have time to pull it out; Van Helsing and his improvisational mount tore through then, slamming into the other gargoyle and driving it into the corner.  
  
Van Helsing thanked God when the gargoyle he was 'riding' ran head first into the wall, pinning its dying companion under him. When he drove home the sharp table leg into its back and felt it spasm and die too, he also thanked God for the fact that they were made of flesh for that brief night and not stone, although they crumbled into tiny pieces of rocks once they died. He sighed and wiped off his forehead, retrieving Anna's knife and handing it to her when she approached him.  
  
"Are you alright?" She asked.  
  
"I'll live. But I'm afraid I've lost my appetite." He sighed.  
  
"I'll drink to that statement." Anna replied fervently. The other patrons who had not yet run away and the cooks who had just come from the kitchen began to shout then.  
  
"They killed those creatures!"  
  
"Were those the gargoyles from the _church_?"  
  
"What would we do without them?"  
  
"What will we do _with_ them! Look at what's happened to the Trinity because of them!"  
  
"We might've died otherwise!"  
  
"Who will pay for the repairs?"  
  
"_WHAT ABOUT OUR FOOD?"_  
  
Soon the cries melted into one another, becoming indistinguishable in their shared rage.  
  
"I guess it can never be a normal night out with us." Van Helsing sighed, taking both Anna's hands and looking at her apologetically.  
  
"What are you talking about? Violence, chaos, blood, near-death..." She laughed. "Love, this IS a normal night out for us."  
  
"I just wish, sometimes, that it could be different." He continued sorrowfully as, arm in arm, they walked calmly out of the ruined restaurant and left those remaining to straighten it out themselves.  
  
"Well, let's _make_ it different." She proposed. "We've never tried a night _in_, have we?"  
  
"Not that I recall." Van Helsing replied, a slow grin stealing over his face.  
  
"Then back to the Valerious manor it is!" Anna beamed back.  
  
_Not quite what I had in mind_... He thought to himself as they mounted up once more, fingering something in his pocket. Images of a crackling fire, fuzzy blanket and some hot, spiced ale popped into his head and his grin widened. _But it'll work...._

* * *

The crackling fire, fuzzy blanket, and hot, spiced ale were just as he had wanted them, and even more perfect than he imagined with Anna curled up against his chest. They had long since finished their ale and their idle talk, and after a few soft touches and warm kisses had settled for just reveling in each other's company. Anna's head lay on his chest, her soft curls and the guttering firelight obscuring much of her beautiful face. Van Helsing moved some of her hair back from her face and bent to kiss her cheek and then the top of her head; she mumbled and shifted into a more comfortable position, lying on her stomach atop Van Helsing, looking up into his eyes.  
  
"Something the matter Gabriel? I was on the brink of a lovely dream." She whispered, one hand combing through his hair.  
  
"I think that dream is what's the matter." He chuckled, repeating the action on her. "I need to get you to bed, young lady."  
  
"No one will know, we're all alone in the house." She said with a small wriggle of playfulness.  
  
"I'll have no such naughtiness from you, Anna Valerious!" He said with mock sternness. "I did promise your father I'd have you home by a certain time..."  
  
"Ah, ever the gentlemen." Anna smiled, kissing him on the lips tenderly.  
  
"And as a gentlemen, I'll tell you to stop and get the hell off me." He laughed, tickling her in the ribs and then playfully shoving her to the floor, where he pounced on her squealing form once more. But the princess of the gypsies wasn't so easily swayed; she flipped them over so that she was straddling him and attacked his ribs as well, until through his laughs he begged for mercy.  
  
"You forget, I had an older brother." She reminded him, tapping him lightly on the nose.  
  
"And what would he say of our current position?" Van Helsing asked with a husky edge, his hands running lightly up and down Anna's waist.   
  
For a moment they lingered there, just enjoying each other's warmth... but then a sudden thought about an angry Velkan Valerious- in werewolf form- had them both scrambling to regain their feet and looking around nervously at the shadows. Like the naughty children they were, they snuck out of the room, arm in arm.  
  
True to his word, Van Helsing had Anna on the threshold of her bedroom just as the clock tolled midnight.  
  
"I suppose that this is goodnight." She sighed. "I hope my parents don't see me sneaking into bed."  
  
"I have a feeling they won't." He bent and kissed her just once more, and then regarded her thoughtfully. Her eyes were shining out from her flushed face, framed by the hair he was so fond of running his fingers through. He did that now, a serious look on his face. "Did you enjoy tonight, Anna?"  
  
"Of course I did. Gargoyle interruptions and all." She wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped back slightly, pulling him into her room inch by inch. She stopped when they stood next to her oaken armoire where she kept her clothes.  
  
"Aren't you afraid we'll be caught?" He asked in a hushed voice, his eyes twinkling.  
  
"Like you said, I have a feeling we won't be." She whispered back with a similar light in her eyes.  
  
"So if you liked tonight... you wouldn't mind doing this more often?" Van Helsing asked slowly.  
  
"Not at all. We can do this anytime we're not out playing at being heroes." Anna replied.  
  
"How would you like to do this for the rest of our lives, however short they might be?" He asked quietly. Both their hearts were ready to leap out of their chests as Gabriel Van Helsing slowly sank to one knee and simultaneously pulled a small box out of his coat pocket. He opened it, revealing a stunning white gold ring with a cross etched into it and filled with tiny diamonds. "Anna Valerious, will you marry me?"  
  
That was the last thing either remembered. Something hard and wooden slammed into both of their heads and sent them sprawling. They tried to reach for each other, but something cold fell on top of them and swept them apart when they had been so close to being together forever.

* * *

A/N-...dare I say that that chapter actually came out... _good_? LOL. I'm not sure if they had 'reservations,' per se, in 1800's restaurants, but oh well!! I had fun writing this, okay?! And I'll have more fun if yall review! 


	3. Chapter 2: Dreams Come True and New Nigh...

A/N-- And the madness continues... but there's more plot development in this chappie! Let me give some M&M's to my reviewers:  
  
**Japanesegirl01**- (1st review) Who isn't in love with Dracula?! Too bad he's not in this one, eh? I hope you'll still like it... And why is it such a big deal that I'm 13?! LOL. There's lots of good, young writers on this site! Thanks for the luck on becoming a famous author!  
(2nd review) I'm happy to see you liking the exposition... I figured yall deserve some nice romance, eh? And who said the enemy would be revealed this early...? --innocent look--  
**Irish Anor**- (1st review) Hello! huggles I really like how the prologue came out, too. I'm happy I finally got my butt moving on this too... I'm really excited about the plot. It shall be fun... I hope you enjoy it!  
(2nd review)Yea, that part was pretty funny... that whole chapter was meant to be some shameless, fluffy fun. We'll see how this one turns out --gulps--  
**marrokinhas**- Yup, the sequel is finally up!! And that was a painful cliffie, no? Hence the reason I had so much fun writing it.... And MAYBE, MAYBE, you'll hear her answer. Just cuz I love you.  
**KillerKitty16**- Hehehe, I do so love writing cliffies... I loved your reaction and your review!!  
**Ragweed**- LOL, you flatter me too much. I can't wait for that next chapter of your awesome story!  
**HyperCaz**- I'm glad you found this story at last! I was wondering if you had forgotten about me... LOL. And the only reason Carl is still dead is that if bring him back to life someone _else_ has to die (i.e. Van Helsing or Anna) cuz I'm obsessed the theme in writing/movies about there being casualties in war. I was actually happy that Stephen Sommers put that in the movie and I want to uphold it.  
**Hollysgirl**- I'm so happy to see so many of my reviewers again! I had a little too much fun with that chapter... couldn't you tell? Don't worry, I'm a hopeless romantic too:-)  
**Anthem82**- Glad to hear you say that!  
  
I'd just like to say that I love my reviewers. But that doesn't mean I'm above messin' with your heads. --big, evil grin--

* * *

Chapter 2:  
Dreams Come True and New Nightmares  
  
He had clambered into the armoire around midday, while the two tired Hunters were still sleeping. It had been work to remain silent the whole day, but he had all the time in the world. For those not of the living, time is always exceedingly kind and generous. But that doesn't mean that patience is as well, and he had begun to grow impatient while waiting for all the romance to stop. After all, his nature demanded he pick the perfect point of entrance...  
  
"Anna Valerious, will you marry me?"  
  
That was it. That was the sounding bell. That was the signal he had been waiting for. His time had come.  
  
The doors of the armoire were flung open; one connected with the man's head, the other with the woman's. Both fell down and away from each other with the force, shrieking each other's names. He stepped in-between them to keep them from reaching each other, and it worked. They both withdrew at the cold always surrounding him. But then he stumbled, staggered by some invisible force, and landed flat on the woman, his face mere inches from hers. She had a look of utmost shock and anger on her face when she realized who it was. He was suddenly _very_ glad that he was dead, otherwise they would probably have a good deal of fun giving him a very slow and painful death, knowing them. And he did know them quite well. His bright mind searched for some cutting, witty remark to say.  
  
"If I were still alive this would be a most compromising position." Carl squeaked, his face still inches from Anna's.  
  
Alright, so the truth was there was no daring plan, no waiting for the opportune moment. Carl had been so shocked that Van Helsing had finally got up off his lazy arse and asked Anna to marry him that he had fallen into the doors and sent all three of them sprawling. But hey, being dead could get quite boring. He needed to amuse himself _somehow_.  
  
"Carl!" Van Helsing shouted angrily.  
  
"Sorry, sorry! It was an accident, I swear!" The ghostly Friar yelped, leaping to his feet.  
  
"An accident? Why don't I believe you?" He said crossly, crossing his arms to match the statement.  
  
"Oh, but you should believe me! Why would I ruin the moment I've been awaiting expectantly for a year?" This typical remark earned him a smack upside the head from the Hunter. Or, at least, an attempted smack. Naturally, the hand went straight through his head and Gabriel jerked it back, hissing at the cold spreading through his arm.  
  
"I can't believe you did that!" Carl whined, rubbing that back of his head fitfully.  
  
"It's not like you can feel it!" Van Helsing quipped.  
  
"But it's the thought that counts!" His friend shot back, arms akimbo.  
  
"That only counts for gifts!" Gabriel cried.  
  
"Both of you knock it off!" Anna cried in exasperation, pulling herself to her feet.  
  
"He started it!" They both grumbled.  
  
"Actually it was Mr. Van Helsing who started it." Anna said calmly, smirking at the look of obvious hurt and confusion on the corporeal man's face.  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes, you." She said playfully. Her voice and face grew softer then. "You started it by giving me what I always wanted." She bent slowly to pick up the dropped ring and, strangely, handed it back to Van Helsing.  
  
"B-but why are you giving it back?" The Monster Hunter asked with uncharacteristic nervousness. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest.  
  
"Because I want you to put it on my finger yourself." Anna smiled coyly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "And so I could do this." So saying, she flung her arms around Van Helsing's neck and kissed him full on the mouth, grinning wildly all the while.   
  
Needless to say, Van Helsing was all too happy to return the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her closer, giving her entrance when it was requested and then deepening it on his own. It was dangerous territory; they could've lost themselves and remained there happily forever. But there whole life was full of danger, and this was the best kind. Wild, passionate, adrenaline-packed, fierce, and intoxicating.  
  
"Oh really, I'm standing right here!" Carl sniffed. With twin eye rolls, the two broke off the kiss and looked to their friend.  
  
"We thought you wanted this, Carl." Anna purred. Gabriel's response was to run one hand lightly up and down her back and kiss the top of her head, grinning fiendishly all the while.  
  
"Not while I'm looking!" The Friar cried, appalled.  
  
"Then go!" Both cried at once. Muttering, Carl disappeared out the door.  
  
"Well, was that a yes?" Van Helsing asked a little timidly, looking down at the perfection in his arms. That Transylvanian mystery and gypsy beauty before him had not been stained by death or hardship, and while he knew she was as beautiful as a spring blossom yet hard as the steel of a sword, he would protect her always and fiercely. Because such perfection deserved to grace the world for as long as possible. Little did he know that she was held in the arms of her whole world, and was content with gracing his sight and his sight alone.  
  
"What do you think?" She asked with a wry smile, eyebrow cocked.  
  
"Honestly, even I know that that was a-" Mumbled an all-too familiar voice.  
  
"_Now_ Carl!" Both shouted. They were satisfied when they saw Carl walk back in the room, stand in the moonlight leaking through the open window, smile goofily, and then disappear entirely.  
  
"I'm guessing, no, hoping, no wishing, no praying..." He trailed off. "That that was a yes."  
  
"And it was." Anna smiled once more. "I will marry you, Gabriel Van Helsing." They were both laughing quietly, hardly daring to believe this moment had finally come, as Van Helsing slipped the ring onto her finger and then they kissed just once more, very softly and tenderly, and then stood back from each other.  
  
Van Helsing whispered, "I love you."  
  
"I love you too." Anna replied in the same tone.  
  
Gabriel left the room, but as long as he was in it he kept his eyes on her. He was almost afraid she'd disappear if he didn't. But once he was out in the hall he was filled with giddiness, excitement. He lived his life on the brink of death, but nothing had been as harrowing as asking her to marry him. And nothing could be as rewarding as hearing her say yes. Getting whacked on the head with the door of an armoire was a small price to pay in return. He reveled in every step on the way to his room, knowing that it was a short walk and taking his time to bask in the happiness he felt. He had done the right thing, he was sure of it. But at the same time, he was eager to get to bed, where he knew good dreams were waiting.

* * *

_He was walking. Yes, walking, that's what it was. The forest was dense all around him, dense and quiet. He was quiet too. His footsteps made no sound as he walked. That was the odd thing... all the silence. It wasn't natural. That, he assumed, was why he was there. To bring back the natural and the good to the forest.  
  
Night was close around the trees, its black restless and shifting, jealously guarding the sights of the world from him. The stars were faint and dim, and the moon but a sickly sliver. It mirrored the road he walked on; thin and dying, fading away into the night. The world seemed just as restless as the night, he could feel it in his blood. They were mirroring each other, almost cutting into each other. The worldly and the ethereal were perilously close tonight, leaving gaps in the fabric of the universe. Magic was humming through the air. It would be soon now, impulse told him.  
  
He grew worried. He was no longer walking. He was running. But still he made no sound, and the forest grew closer around him. The sickened sickle moon was swinging just above him, aligning with the curl in the path. Anna stood there, caught in the eclipse of two worlds. This was not the beautiful kind, though. The moon-dark was coming, the time of dark magic and happenings stranger than those of the full moon. He tried to call out, but his voice was gone. She was being sucked into the rift between worlds, he had to reach her and save her...  
  
But he was too late. A white shape flew before him, knocked him to the ground. Still all was silent, even though he knew from the ache in his chest that his heart was pounding hard and fast. He struggled to get up. Blood trickled down his stomach. He saw someone standing behind Anna, someone rather small. They had dark hair, streaked all through with what looked like ribbons of light. They had their hands on Anna's shoulders... were they saving her or damning her...?  
  
All flashed suddenly to a brilliant white. But he was not out of the dream's grip yet.  
  
The first thing he saw after the brilliant white was black velvet hung all through with diamonds. It was the night sky, he realized with a jolt. The moon was just beginning to wane, only a sliver of darkness encroached upon its silver. His gaze turned downward. Anna was at his side. Anna! She was looking at something in the distance, and suddenly she cried out, although he couldn't hear the words. He saw it too now, a woman lying on the ground, bleeding and hurt. A vampire was just flying away, briefly hiding the moon as it did so. They knelt at the side of the woman, Anna lifted her up and began to bandage her wounds. She was a little thing, with dark hair and pale skin.  
  
The dream flashed suddenly, and reopened on the image of he, Anna and Car crouched around the woman in the bedroom of an inn, Anna and himself working furiously to stem the bleeding. Then suddenly Anna and Carl were gone and he was sitting alone at her side, as though waiting for something. She sat up and looked him in the eye; he couldn't accurately tell their color, but they were bright and piercing. They shook hands.  
  
There was another brilliant flash of light; he had returned to the moment when Anna stood on the curved path underneath the sickle moon. He tried to get to his feet and run to save her, but a vampire held him down, its claws digging into his shoulders. Without warning, there was only dust falling down on him and something rushed past him; a dark figure. The figure ran to Anna's side and seized her by the shoulders. They became almost impossible to see as light threatened to engulf them both... but it didn't. The figure jerked back hard on Anna's_ _shoulders and they tumbled away from the light and Van Helsing was able to rush to Anna's side. She wrapped her arms around him, kissed him weakly but with a smile. He could hear the sound of church bells...  
  
Then the dream seemed to rewind at a screaming pace, coming back to the image of he and Anna fighting to control the bleeding on the unconscious woman. This time, they both sat back and shook their heads sadly, covering the woman's face with a sheet. Slowly, it all faded to inky darkness and remained there for a tantalizing moment. Then the colors came draining back in like blood dripping down a wall. It revealed Anna, still standing on the brink of what seemed to be the Apocalypse, but there was no figure. Van Helsing tried to stand up but was held back by the claws a vampire, who sneered in his face and then forced him to watch Anna be sucked into the light and gave him the benefit of hearing one sound:  
  
Her terrified scream.  
  
Black circled in around his mind, suffocating him. A voice sounded in that endless night.  
  
**CHOOSE WISELY, HUNTER**. The voice was strange, multifaceted. He could swear he knew it well, but at the same time it was entirely foreign. It was both male and female, frenzied in pitch and a flat monotone. He grappled mentally with the riddle it presented for several minutes before succumbing and lapsing into dreamless slumber.  
_

* * *

The light was harsh and unforgiving in its waking up of Gabriel Van Helsing, as was the floor. He started suddenly, falling out of bed and landing on the floor, then sat up, breathing harshly. He could hardly recall why he was so frightened, until the vicious nightmare caught up with him and slammed back into his mind at full force. In instants he was on his feet, cursing the brightness of the light and searching in vain for his shirt. He barely had it over his head when he was bolting towards the door and flinging it open. Anna. He needed to find her.  
  
Van Helsing found her sooner than he might've expected, dashing out into the hall only to run straight into her. They both yelled and jumped back, reaching instinctively for the weapons they always had on their person, and then sighed in unison when they recognized each other.  
  
"I was just coming to get you." Anna laughed shortly.  
  
"Same with me." He stated a little shakily, running one hand through his hair.  
  
"So, which of us wants to dare the kitchen today. No, don't answer that. The one adventure we've had together that I'm the most afraid of repeating is the time you attempted to make me dinner. When we're married Gabriel, I don't ever, _ever_ want you to cook for me." Anna said fervently.  
  
"Ah, so it wasn't a dream. We really are engaged." Van Helsing said with a quiet smile.  
  
"I was coming to confirm that for myself just now." She replied with a similar expression.  
  
"I did have a... Well, I don't know what to call it." He left off there, his hand absently stroking the slight stubble on his face.  
  
"You're not making sense. Was it just a nightmare? Is something wrong?" Anna asked suspiciously.  
  
"A nightmare. That's what it was. Sorry," He laughed shortly. "I just woke up. I guess I just sort of forgot the word nightmare."  
  
"Alright then." Anna said dismissively. He would tell her when he was ready... _But what of the Wavewriter?_ _You had to force him to tell you about that..._ "I trust you. Remember that." She said to him on impulse.  
  
"I should hope that you trust me!" Van Helsing laughed. "Marriage wouldn't be such a good idea if you didn't!" Anna joined him in his laughter and, arm-in-arm, they went into the hallway. It was one moments when he wished time would just slow down or stop entirely; the journey down the hall and to the tower library was all too quickly over.  
  
He opened the door almost cautiously and stepped inside, Anna going immediately over to her favorite chair and sitting down. But Van Helsing lingered doorway a moment, looking around the room carefully.  
  
"Something isn't right." He said quietly. Anna looked back at him, frowning, and then held very still. She rose carefully to her feet, eyes roving to the ceiling and then back down Gabriel, who motioned for her to be quiet. Their muscles grew taut and their breathing slowed until it was hardly there at all. And so they stood, waiting...  
  
"You know, it's really now that funny anymore." He sighed after a moment, sidestepping deftly to the left. Carl's silvery form shot right past him, landing flat on his face. "What's the use of being a ghost if you can't even haunt people properly?"  
  
"For your information, I scare everyone but you! So _you're_ the one who doesn't know how to be properly haunted!" Carl grumbled, standing.  
  
"So nice of you to join us, Carl." Anna smiled sarcastically as she sat down again.  
  
"Actually, I wasn't expecting you to be here. I thought you'd be out already."  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
  
"If you haven't noticed, vampire activity has been on the rise lately. They're growing more and more brazen... and much stronger."  
  
"I was going to do a little research on that today. Make sure that it doesn't coincide with any special dates or prophecies. Later we can probably go out and see if we can catch any, maybe see if they're acting under one ruler or something. But I had hoped that we could do a little wedding planning as well." Anna turned her beaming gaze onto Van Helsing for a moment before standing and looking through the many books.  
  
"Sounds like she's got your whole life planned." Carl remarked.  
  
"No Carl, that would be you." Anna mumbled as she continued to search.  
  
"It was a full moon last night." Van Helsing brought up suddenly. He had been deep in thought since Anna had mentioned special dates and prophecies.  
  
"Oh that's right, it was. Reports of werewolf attacks will be pouring in, I'm sure." Carl said.  
  
"Werewolf numbers have been on the rise too. Maybe a vampire clan is on the rise and they're using werewolves to do their bidding again." Anna replied absently, plucking a book off the shelf and paging through it thoughtfully.  
  
"That's not what I meant." Van Helsing said.  
  
"Well, the full moon has many meanings. It's a potent time for spells too." Carl agreed.  
  
"Spells." The Hunter wheeled to face the Friar quickly. "What sort of spells?"  
  
"Oh, all kinds. It's even rumored that in specific places on the earth you can travel to new worlds during the time of the full moon." Carl continued slowly.  
  
"Can it happen during the other phases of the moon too?" He interrogated.  
  
"Yes... why are you asking?" He asked, confused.  
  
"Excuse me," The three companions turned to face Anita, their one and only servant. She was a middle-aged woman who kept an eye on the house while they were gone, and she now stood in the doorway of the library. "There's a very tired young man waiting at the door to speak with you. He looks distraught."  
  
"We'll be right down." Anna assured her, book marking the page she was on and setting the book down. "Here's the first report of werewolves, I'll bet." The others followed her out of the room and down to the front door. A young, distraught man was there indeed, both he and his horse on the verge of collapse. "How can we help you?" Anna asked quietly, searching him for signs of injury. "Are you alright? Do you want to come in?"  
  
"No time for that. My village, it was attacked last night." He panted.  
  
"By a werewolf?" She asked.  
  
"No, by a whole flock of vampires!" He cried wildly. "There must've been six or seven of them, killing and carrying us off like helpless sheep! We thought that we were all done for, we had no defense. And then a strange woman came out of the inn and fought with them. She killed two and then ran out of the village, drawing the rest with her. But we have seen neither hide nor hair of her since." He barely paused for breath. "You must come back with me and defend us from them tonight. Our homes and farms were wrecked, our families are scattered. We would not survive another night."  
  
"We'll co-" She began.  
  
"Wait, Anna." Van Helsing cried, his hand on her arm in a tight grip. His face was stricken with worry. "Come inside with me. There's something I need to tell Anna."

* * *

"Why can't we go and help them?" Anna expostulated the second Gabriel closed the door behind them. They had left Anita and the young man in the entrance hall.  
  
"Because I had a dream last night." Van Helsing began calmly.  
  
"A dream?" She seethed.  
  
"Yes, a dream!" He cried back. He launched into a narrative of all he had seen in his dream; every detail was perfectly and exquisitely carved into his memory. It had none of the haziness a normal dream or nightmare usually leaves. Someone _wanted_ him to remember it...  
  
"And because of that I don't think you should go. I can handle this myself, but if you stay here then you don't even have a chance of ending up in that forest and getting killed."  
  
"But if the woman he mentioned is the woman who is meant to save me, then all we have to do is go there and save her and everything will be okay!" Anna shot back. "And besides, you said it was sickle moon. It was a _full moon_ last night."  
  
"Still, I won't take any chances." He cried fervently. "Not with your life."  
  
"Gabriel, other lives are entangled in this! Innocent lives, that woman's life, the lives of the villagers! And you said that in the dream I was the one who found her. She'll die if I'm not there to point her out!" Anna cried.  
  
"I can find her on my own! I was doing this by myself long before I met you!" He retorted angrily.  
  
"But together we learned the importance of not changing Fate." Her voice and eyes grew soft with inner pain. Van Helsing sighed and stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek in one hand.  
  
"Anna, I love you. I'd let the whole rest of the world end around us before I lost you again." He whispered.  
  
"I know. But this is our life. This is what has been handed to us. We have to take what we're given and make the best of it." Anna whispered back. She leaned in to kiss him tenderly. "And right now we've been given a mission to protect that village and find this mystery woman."  
  
"I guess wedding plans will have to wait." He sighed again. She nodded, kissed him once more, and then they went back outside. The young man leapt eagerly to his feet, his eyes pleading. "We're in." Gabriel said after taking a deep breath. "And we leave now."  
  
Later, as the hooves of his Transylvanian steed pounded the ground, he knew that there was no turning back. What would be, would be.

* * *

A/N-- I know the beginning was a bit OOC for all of them... but it was entirely too much fun anyways!! this whole chapter was such a _bitch_ to write. It was refusing to come out right... But I guess that's just because I needed to do a lot of dialogue and junk, like the second to last chapter of Ripples in Time. Anyways, next chapter will be soo much better cuz I get to bring in a new OC and develop the plot a little more and hopefully get some action. REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY! 


	4. Chapter 3: Stranger Than You Dreamt It

Disclaimer- I own nothing!!! Just the plot and my OC's (which I'm going to try not to kill this time.) I also own Carl the Stuffed Purple Dog, but that's kinda questionable too cuz he's my muse and I think he might actually own _me_.... EEP!  
  
A/N-- Yayness! New chappie!!!! I just saw the Notebook so now I'm all hyper off of starbursts.... M&M's to all my reviewers:  
  
**Irish Anor**-  
Verona: Hehehe, like I said I love to mess with my reviewers minds....  
Carl the Stuffed Purple Dog: You only like that so much cuz you don't have a mind of your own.  
Verona: SHUT UP!!! THEY DON'T KNOW THAT!!!!!  
CSPD:.......  
Verona: Know this.... you are not alone.... LOL. Funny review, you crack me up!! I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**KillerKitty16**- here's the update! I hope it continues to get better and better!  
**marrokinhas**- LOL, Carl was a bit of a twist, wasn't it? Ahh, I love messing with all your minds....  
The dream and the beginning were about all that came out right!!! I'm glad you liked them... the dream will be important later!  
Carl the Stuffed Purple Dog is doing pretty good. he's sitting next to my computer, eyeing me... demanding that I type...... and telling me what to type..... it's actually kinda unnerving....  
1 o'clock in the morning?! Dude, you _really_ need to go to sleep!! (it's 5:30 pm here in California as I type this)  
**Hollysgirl**- Okay!! --trades M&M's-- I do so love M&M's...  
Like I said, I love messing with my reviewers minds... everyone completely freaked out over the ending of that last chapter. It was too much fun! Thankee for your review!  
**Anthem82**- Mayyybbee they'll get married and maayybbeee not... we shall see, my precious..... hehehe.... yea, the dream was fun to write!  
**HyperCaz**- Yes, Carl as a ghost is very amusing to write!I'm glad to have changed your perspective on character death... LOL.  
  
Enjoy it if you can! The title is a nod to Phantom of the Opera, the most amazing musical I've ever seen!

* * *

Chapter 4:  
Stranger Than You Dreamt It  
  
They rode long and hard, fervently thankful for their Transylvanian horses. The boy's horse wasn't meant for such speed, but he forced it to go beyond its limits. Even at the breakneck pace they flew by at, they did not reach the village until nightfall.  
  
Ribbons of gold tangled themselves in the satiny red of sunset. They uncoiled themselves from the sky when they saw the travelers riding in, prodding jealously at their already jaded eyes, determined to make seeing hard. Van Helsing swore and tipped his hat lower so that he could at least see the ground when they slowed to a canter and then to a trot. The village was just as the young man had said; desolate, still smoldering. The wails of the mourning rose up to meet the dying sky, marring its beauty with their lackadays. Anna felt their pain all too well. She knew how tightly knit these tiny communities were. Everyone had lost at least one or two friends, lovers or family members.  
  
When they dismounted by the well at the center of the wrecked place, villagers sprinted over to them, begging and shouting and sobbing all around them. 'Have you seen my husband?' 'My daughter, my daughter have you seen her?' 'Will they return to take the rest of us?' 'I hope to God they do! I have nothing left!'  
  
"Don't say those things!" Anna shouted. Everyone grew silent and turned to face her. She stood on top of the well, hands on her hips. "You still have hope, don't you? You still have your lives!"  
  
"What's left of them." Muttered one sullenly.  
  
"You have no right to say that! Whatever little you have left it is certainly more than those that died have. Life is too short... live for them, though they cannot. Live for the mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and wives and husbands that you can't find. You may not be able to find them, but can't you at least find some small shred of fight left in your souls?" Anna's voice swelled and fell away like the tides of the sea her eyes loved so much. And just as the Adriatic left her breathless, she held her audience captive. And in that moment, when she stepped slowly, regally, down off the well and that fire was still burning fiercely in her eyes, Gabriel fell in love with her all over again.  
  
"What do you think we should do?" She asked him.  
  
"We need to find that woman." Van Helsing replied. "You say she lured the vampires away?" The crowd mumbled their acquiescence. "Then chances are she killed them. If not, then we should at least leave in the direction she went in and see if we can't find either her or the vampires."  
  
"Will you come back and protect our village?" asked one small girl in the front.  
  
"We're going to try and make sure that you never even have to see those creatures near it again." Gabriel assured her with a smile, dropping to one knee and resting his hand on her shoulder.   
  
Anna smiled inwardly at him. For all his toughness, he was usually very good around kids. They seemed to like him a lot too; without all the complications of adulthood, they saw him for the hero he was. In fact, she thought that he got a little nervous around them only because they saw so deeply and purely into him and chose to worship him.  
  
"Everyone is to stay inside tonight, no matter what. In fact, it would be better if you could get into cellars and lock them shut. Stay away from windows and doors, lock and shutter them if you can, and wait until the sunlight is strong and bright before you open them again. Keep some sort of weapon close too. We will return once we've found this woman and questioned her about the vampires." Gabriel ordered.   
  
The gentle, kind man she knew was gone and the Monster Hunter was back. The villagers listened to him unquestioningly, rounding up what was left of their families and scurrying for the indoors. They waited for a few minutes, and were satisfied when they heard and saw the windows and doors shutting and heard them being bolted.  
  
"What's going on?" As the moon crested the horizon, Carl appeared in its beams. He looked much stronger and much more solid at this time, so real you could almost touch him.  
  
"Carl, can you stay here with the villagers and protect them?" Van Helsing asked.  
  
"Well, yes. I mean, all I can do is throw things at the vampires if I come, I can't hurt them any other way." The Friar said, a little muddled.  
  
"But they can't hurt you either. And make sure the villagers stay inside. If one wanders out, don't hesitate to scare them back inside." He continued.  
  
"Alright then. You two be careful. You promised me a wedding." Carl warned them. Anna and Gabriel rolled their eyes at him and tied their horses up.  
  
"Keep an eye on our horses as well!" Anna called over her shoulder as they headed out the side opposite the one they had entered in. The young man who had come and gotten them indicated that this was the direction the woman left in earlier.  
  
"Oh fine then. Just leave me here." Carl grumbled, plopping his ghostly butt down on the well next to the horses. It looked like a long night of more waiting.

* * *

The night was exceptionally beautiful. Crisp, cool, clean, with a shroud like a black velvet evening dress bedecked with millions of diamonds. The keen air bit into their lungs as they drew their careful breaths, eyes peeled for anything. The land was mostly flat, with a few undulations and some scattered shrubs, but a huge black forest loomed in the distance ahead of them. Van Helsing gritted his teeth when he saw it; his hand sought out Anna's and squeezed it tightly for a moment before dropping it again. When their eyes met, his were pleading and hers reassuring. They had had a whole conversation without words, as was their way. Van Helsing looked back up to the sky, she to their right. All he could see was the endless, glittering multitude of stars and the shining moon, but she evidently saw something much better.  
  
"Look, Gabriel!" She cried, pointing to something on their right. There were three shapes there; one on the ground and two standing close by. Without warning, she took off in their direction.  
  
Van Helsing began to run after her, then stopped. **_CHOOSE WISELY, HUNTER._** The words echoed through his mind. He was at the hinging point, with two choices: save this woman or let her die. He wanted to yell at Anna to return to his side, keep her from harm.... but then the image of her being sucked into the vortex of light and her petrified scream blasted through his head.  
  
He began to sprint. He threw caution to the wind and himself into the hands of Fate.

* * *

"Hold still now." Snarled the vampiress, pinning the squirming figure of the woman to the ground while her fellow vampire stood nearby. That woman was small, but she was _strong_. "I waited all day for this moment, don't spoil the fun."   
  
"And why would I listen to you?" She snapped back. She heaved herself to her feet, arm cocked back for an almighty punch. But as her fist nearly connected with the face of her captor, the vampiress seized her by the wrist and wrenched her arm around. She yelled and sank to her knees, unable to push herself back up because of the pressure on her wrist.  
  
"Teach her of her place!" The vampiress holding her spat.   
  
The other moved forward, hissing, and kicked her hard in the ribs. The woman cried out and tried to struggle again, but couldn't get out of the way of a second and third kick. Crimson dots swam before her eyes. Had she endured so much only to die here, away from home...? She screamed as the fourth kick connected and curled in on herself, ceasing to fight. There was a greedy snarling as her enemies closed in.  
  
Just like she wanted them to.  
  
As the first one took hold of her shoulder and prepared to jerk her onto her back and leave her vulnerable once more, she struck out again, this time hitting her mark. The well-aimed punch connected with her attacker's nose, sending blood flying across them both.  
  
"You little _bitch_!" She shrieked. She grabbed her wrist and twisted it hard; before the woman could react, the vampiress was upon her, her fangs stabbing down into her neck like twin sabers...  
  
Her feed was cut short abruptly.   
  
"Her blood..." She moaned, clutching at her throat. "Her blood..."  
  
The second the woman's blood touched her tongue, she had screamed awfully and jerked her fangs out of her neck, then backed away. Her eyes were wide with terror, and even... horrified recognition? She began to sputter and cough, throwing up finally. The woman had never thought it possible for a vampire to throw up, and hoped she never saw it happen again. The vampiress doubled over herself, continuing to retch violently, and sank to the ground. She had no notion of what was coming. But her companion did.  
  
"Hunters!" The other cried shrilly, transforming and taking off just as two more figures rushed up.   
  
One, a woman, held a sword, while the man held a crossbow. He aimed and fired at the fleeing vampire, but missed. The woman struck down at the other vampire, who was still coughing up bile, and severed her head. The last thing the wounded girl heard was the sound of the vampire exploding into dust. The woman immediately rushed over to her, forcing her out of her fetal position and examining her.  
  
"She's been bitten!" She cried. Her Transylvanian accent was thick. The man soon appeared beside her. Vaguely, she thought she recognized them...  
  
"Great. More people. Just join the party." She slurred feebly, trying to sit up but failing. Sight and sound were fleeing from her, faster than she could keep up. She slid into darkness with a soft groan.  
  
"She's out." Anna cursed, turning to Van Helsing for some bandages. The petite woman was covered in bruises and cuts, and her neck still bled profusely from two puncture wounds on her neck. The vampiress had been messy about pulling her fangs out, so the skin was also torn a little. She attended to this first, and then to the claw marks on her back and ribs.  
  
"We need to get her back to the village." Van Helsing muttered, lifting her into his arms.  
  
"Right." Anna agreed. They set off at a run, both knowing how deadly being late could be in their case.

* * *

The innkeeper let them in a little reluctantly, but quickly gave them use of a room when she saw who they were and who they had with them. Thanking her profusely and asking for some wine to give her, carried the still unconscious woman to the nearest room.  
  
Before laying her on the bed, they removed the coat she wore. It was a long black trench coat, worn and torn from many years of wear. Underneath that she wore a black shirt with very skinny straps and strange black pants that had many pockets. Her boots were black and in a state similar to her coat.  
  
"She obviously knew what she was doing." Anna murmured, gesturing to the belt she wore.  
  
Hung from it was a scabbard and a self-made loop that was home to a well-worn stake. One of the inside pockets of her trench coat had a fair-sized wooden cross with leather strips wrapped around the bottom part, like a grip. There were numerous other pockets in the thing, all of which she didn't look into. But the thing was very heavy for someone who was so small...  
  
"She doesn't seem to need much saving." Van Helsing replied. "The worst wound is the bite and those holes in her back and stomach from the claws." Anna rested her hand on the woman's forehead.  
  
"Gabriel, she's ice cold! And look, she's hardly breathing! There must be something we aren't seeing." She cried  
  
"Check her stomach." Carl had appeared suddenly, and was now bending over her too.   
  
They didn't stop to ask him what he was doing here, they did as he said, lifting up her thin, soft shirt. All three couldn't help but wince- Carl, actually, made a sound like he'd be sick- when they saw her stomach. It was nearly white and well toned, (now it was safe to say that she was a Hunter just like them) but just above her belly button there was a vicious cut from hip to hip. It was roughly stitched up, as though she hadn't had the time to properly care for it and just didn't want her insides spilling out.  
  
"She didn't do this right. Carl, go and get a needle from the innkeeper. Anna, I'm going to take her stitches out, get ready to control the bleeding and... whatever else happens to come out." Van Helsing ordered.  
  
It was a bloody, gruesome ordeal, but they at last patched up the wound. All three wondered silently how she had survived it in the first place, but were glad nonetheless. They waited at her side for almost an hour before Anna and Carl decided to go outside and watch for any attackers. True to the dream, Gabriel waited alone by her side for another hour. Then she began to stir, if only very faintly. He watched and waited patiently at her side for several more minutes, and then grew very pale with anxiety when she stopped moving entirely. His own heart pounding, he reached out with two fingers, preparing to test for a pulse...  
  
Her hand, surprisingly cold and very strong, wrapped around his wrist when he got within an inch of touching her. She began to sit up, her fist tensed for a punch, but fell back with a cry of pain.  
  
"Ah, shit." She hissed, releasing his wrist to wrap her arms around her throbbing midsection. "Bloody _hell_ those stupid vampires!"  
  
"Nice to meet you." Van Helsing said dryly. "Do you always greet people who save your life by attempting to incapacitate them?"  
  
"Ugh, don't make fun of how far I've fallen. Normally you'd have a knife to your throat before you'd twitched a muscle." The woman grumbled, still rubbing her stomach.  
  
"Well, that's not how I want to start this off." He remarked, an eyebrow quirked.  
  
"Me neither." She winced, lifting up her shirt to check on her wound. "Damn. They got me _good_."  
  
"Gabriel? We came to check up on-" Anna paused midsentence when she saw Cathy sitting up, inspecting her wound. Carl trouped in behind her. "Oh good, you're awake."  
  
"Wa-ait a second..." She said slowly, eyeing them very closely as Anna and Carl came to stand directly behind Van Helsing. "I recognize you guys from somewhere... What're you're names?" She asked.  
  
"I'm Gabriel Van Helsing."  
  
"Anna Valerious."  
  
"And I'm-"  
  
"Get _out_!" She squealed before Carl could finish. "_The_ Van Helsing? Dude, I loved that movie!" Her enthusiasm was met with three deadpanned looks. "Oh, sorry, I forgot, you guys don't have those yet. But wait, in the movie, you died-" She pointed to Anna. "And you were alive!" She pointed to Carl. "Wow, that's just a bit confusing. I musta missed the sequel." She gave them a lopsided grin.  
  
"What do you mean _yet_? What's a movie?" Carl sniffed, clearly unhappy that once more no one cared who he was.  
  
"Who are you? How do you know so much about us?" Van Helsing interrogated suspiciously.  
  
"No time for lengthy explanations or anything now." She said quickly, trying to get up. "I'm assuming you know what vampires are.... and there's a whole nest out there that needs taking care of."  
  
"And you are going to do that all by yourself while you're still recovering from major wounds?" Anna asked with crossed arms.  
  
"Such is the life of a vampire hunter." She grinned again.  
  
"I like her." Anna smiled to Van Helsing. "Can we keep her for a pet?"  
  
"'ey, I dislike that kind of talk!" She whined, giving up on getting to her feet and leaning against the headboard. "I belong to no one!"  
  
"Well we can't adopt her if we don't know anything about her." Gabriel said dryly. "What's your name?"  
  
"Call me Cathy." 'Cathy' said, shaking hands with each of them in turn. She even made a valiant attempt to shake Carl's hand, and seemed entirely unfazed by his... particular state.  
  
"Ah, named after St. Catherine, I suppose?" Carl asked amicably. She looked away, her hair shading her face.  
  
"Yes." Cathy said quietly.  
  
"That still doesn't explain how you know so much about us." Van Helsing pressed.  
  
"And why you wear such strange clothes." Anna added.  
  
"Look, this is gonna sound crazy..." She grunted as she at last hefted herself to her feet, leaning against the wall for support. "And don't trip on me, okay? But I'm from the future. A little place in California called Sunnydale."  
  
"You're from the future?" Gabriel asked, stunned.  
  
"Don't look so shocked, you and I traveled four hundred years in the past to defeat Dracula." Carl scolded lightly.  
  
"Was there like a whole freaking trilogy I missed?" Cathy cried.  
  
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." Van Helsing said slowly.  
  
"It doesn't matter." She dismissed. "Look... I'm real grateful to you guys for saving my life, but I have to get back out there. There's some heavy stuff going on and I need to stop it. I can manage my wounds, I've dealt with stuff like this before."  
  
"Then I hope you can manage walking and talking at the same time." Gabriel said.  
  
"Huh?" Cathy asked, confused.  
  
"We're coming with you." Anna insisted.  
  
"Alright then. But I'm warnin' you now... where I go, the corpses pile high. Oh, wait, that's right, you've got that whole 'Most Wanted Man in all Europe' gig going on, and you're family has sworn to kill Dracula. And you..." She skipped over Carl. "Anyways, this should be a walk in the park for you guys." Limping slightly, she began to make her way out of the room. Halfway out, she ran into the door. "_Woa!_ Oh, heh, I knew that was there..." She called over her shoulder as she kept walking. Anna, Gabriel and Carl gave each other questioning glances, and then followed her out into the town.  
  
Her walking had improved, although it was easy to see she was a bit unsteady on her feet still. But Cathy managed to walk very tall, holding herself like people who don't know how small they are generally do. She had put her trench coat back on just before she left the room, and it billowed slightly behind her as she walked, her hands in her pockets, singing some song they'd never heard before. Watching her, Gabriel couldn't help but know that this whole ordeal would turn out to be a lot stranger than he had ever dreamed.  
  
"Do you know where the nest is?" Anna asked Cathy. She had taken an immediate liking to this girl. She had spunk, and wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind. There was a bit of a devilish streak in her too, as she could see from the glint in her eyes.  
  
"Yup. Tailed those sorry bastards last night all the way to their hideout. That's when I got my gut cut open... so I couldn't go after them. I could hardly get myself back here." She replied nonchalantly, with no more emotion then we put into talking about the weather.  
  
"Is it far?" Carl asked.  
  
"For some." She shrugged.  
  
"Do you want us to bring horses?" Anna asked. Cathy stopped where she was and turned to face the other three.  
  
"Let me tell you somethin' about me. I don't know how to drive a car- _don't_ ask- I don't know how to swim, I don't know how to ride a bike, airplanes- _don't_ ask- make me sick, and I don't know how to ride a horse. I _walk_." With a firm nod, as though that settled the whole thing, she continued on.  
  
This was _definitely_ going to be a strange adventure.

* * *

A/N-- Oh, and so you know, Cathy is wearing a spaghetti strap tank and cargo pants. But I figured they wouldn't know what those were, so ya know... When you review, please be gentle on her, cuz she's my baby. She's got a helluva backstory too; she's from a 994 page roleplay based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (hence why she said she was from Sunnydale) and I'm not gonna have time to go into every little detail about her. But you'll find out what you need to know in due time! I'll describe her in the next chapter... so REVIEW! 


	5. Chapter 4: Business Not As Usual

Disclaimer- I own nothing of the movie _Van Helsing_. All I own is Cathy and the plot. (who I am going to try not to kill.... but she gets pretty damn annoyin', ya know?) And Carl the Stuffed Purple Dog.  
  
A/N-- I am profusely sorry it took this long to update... thank my new friend Anna for peer pressuring me into finishing this. (no thanks go to CSPD, who is in the closet because he was a naughty, naughty boy) Extra M&M's for my reviewers!  
  
**Irish Anor**- First of all: I really threw you a curveball didn't I?  
Second of all: That was meant to be funny! Glad you liked it!  
Third of all: Here's the update!  
Fourth of all: I'M SHOCKED! LOL, j/k.  
marrokinhas- Hehe, poor Cathy, guess she doesn't read fanfiction! I love her dearly... she's so much fun to confuse.  
Cathy: I heard that!  
Verona: Get back in the story!!! Ahem, anyways, I promise everything will make sense in the end! You'll see why she's here!  
Cathy: I'm here because YOU PUT ME HERE!  
Verona:......  
**MissAnnaValerious**- Cathy isn't in the past to kill Dracula... I'll explain why she's there later. A slayer huh? You're the closest guesser so far..... But not quite! Thanks for the review!  
**Anthem82**- Wow, I'm so glad you like Cathy that much! Advice for an aspiring authoress...? Read lots of good fics, and when you're watching a favorite movie, think stuff like 'well what would happen if he did _this_ instead of _this_...' that's how I got the idea for Ripples In Time. I was watching Van Helsing and then when they got to the part about Gabriel killing Dracula in 1462, I was like 'well what if he had to do it all over again...?' and then the madness started. Also, when you get your first flame (_if_ you ever get one; I've gotten many before.) don't be discouraged. Suck it up and keep writing.  
**KillerKitty16**- Buffy is my favorite show too!!!!!! Yea, the RPG Cathy was in was _based_ on Buffy... but you'll find out more about her later. Here's the update!  
**HyperCaz**- Yup! Cathy's from the future! And believe me... she's _not_ a mary-sue.... she has.... _issues_.  
Cathy: I'm still here, you know.  
Verona: NO I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!! GET. BACK. IN. THE. FIC!  
**The Blonde Elf**- I'm sorry, I don't think I know you.  
--eye roll-- You don't know _everything_ you little nut! You don't know how it's gonna end!!! _AND DON'T TELL THEM THE SURPRISE!!!_ (for anyone reading this, the Elf here is my best friend of 9 years. Go figure.)  
  
I must say it is highly amusing to hear all your guesses about Cathy and why she's here... have fun reading!  
JSYK, there is some foul language in this chapter. Nothing too bad, but I just thought I'd warn you now.

* * *

Chapter Four:  
Business Not As Usual  
  
As the forest drew closer and closer, Van Helsing got more and more anxious internally. Anna remained calm, but threw him a reassuring glance every now and then. He tried to get his mind off of his dream, turning to Cathy instead. So this was the mystery woman... and a mystery she remained. _I will have to remedy that_, He thought.  
  
"So, how did you get here?" Gabriel asked. When she gave him a questioning look, he continued. "You said you could manage walking and talking. _So_, tell me something about you."  
  
"Just cause I said I _can_ walk and talk at the same time doesn't necessarily mean I _will_." Cathy drawled dismissively, her eyes meeting his for a moment. While her face was cool and calm as the night around them, her eyes held a sparkle of challenge. "We got time. We don't need to worry about walking fast." She remarked, looking all around her carefully. Her silence after that gave all three of them a chance to observe her.  
  
The first thing you noticed about her was her size. She was diminutive, a walking willow wand. By looking at her, you'd think that you could snap her in half one-handed. But they had seen, first hand, the rippling muscles on her arms and stomach, and knew it was otherwise. Her face was a rather plain oval, and very open. It was easy to see what she was thinking. Her skin was pale, but not sickly. So far she seemed just a plain, delicate girl who happened to work out on the odd days, and not at all very special. But when you looked closer at her, she was undeniably beautiful.  
  
Her hair was a dark brown, and made its silken way to rest just a half-inch below her shoulders. It was shot all through with gold, and two thick gold strips curled snugly around her face, like she had cut it that way. The hair color might've been odd on someone else, but it fit all perfectly with her when her eyes were considered. That was what drew them all in the most: her liquid gold eyes. They were catlike, vivid, intense, and vibrantly colored. It was a color none of them had seen before on a human, and like her hair might've seemed a bit strange on anyone else, but they... _fit_ her, inexplicably. There was something very right about her having gold eyes, even if they couldn't explain it.  
  
"If we have time, then why did we rush to leave the inn?" Anna asked.  
  
"It's always hard to get going, so we needed to rush. But now that we're out here, we can relax." Cathy said calmly, still keeping a wary eye on all around her. The next thing they noticed is that she was obviously experienced at hunting. Her footsteps were light, so light you could hardly hear them at all. Her breaths were small, even and controlled; silvery steam puffed out of her mouth far less than out of any of theirs.  
  
"So, if we're relaxing, why don't you tell us about yourself? You know all about us it seems." Carl offered.  
  
"Fine then, but I reserve the right to plead the 5th if I don't like the question." She warned.  
  
"How old are you?" He asked.  
  
"37." Cathy replied calmly.  
  
"37? I don't believe you!" Carl cried.  
  
"Yea. A bit of a freak accident happened when I was 17.... I got caught up in a spell and messed something up. I wandered into another dimension. Ever since then I've hardly aged." She smiled.  
  
"Where did you say you were from?" Carl continued.  
  
"Sunnydale, California. That's on the west coast of the U.S."  
  
"No, I meant you said you were from the future." He probed.  
  
"_Oh._ I'm from about... 200 years in the future. Maybe less. This is 1888, right?"  
  
"1889." Anna corrected.  
  
"Oh. Well, I guess I'm from about... almost 115 years in the future." She said with her now customary calm.  
  
"Blood hell! How'd you end up back here?" Carl cried. 115 years. The turn of the millennium! He had much to ask her... But she had looked down suddenly, her hair veiling her face, when he had asked how she came to be in their time. She walked a little faster, even bordering on a run.  
  
"I think we should hurry. I've been too relaxed." Cathy muttered.  
  
Carl gaped, his mouth opening and closing several times as he fought to understand her. _First_ she insists they rush out of the village, _second_ she tells them they have time, and _now_ she says they need to run! He shook his head at such an obvious show of whimsy and illogic.  
  
"You _should_ relax with your wounds. God, how can you even be walking with your stomach cut up like it is?" Anna asked. Cathy whirled to face her.  
  
"I told you. I've had worse than this. Now we should all just get shutting up real quickly because we're getting near to the nest." Her voice was low, almost a hiss, and her eyes flashed dangerously.  
  
"Well you don't have to fuss about it!" Carl mumbled, crossing his arms.  
  
"Look, I-" She cut herself off and then looked away again. "Damn." She whispered, wrapping her arms around her chest and bowing her head as she picked up speed. Anna and Gabriel glanced at each other and then at Carl, and they followed her at a jog. _That_ was a quick turn of mood.  
  
The heavens wheeled above them, out of sight, as they trekked into the forest. Here it was darker than even the night, dark enough to faze even the hardened Hunters. Carl, of course, was about to wet his ghostly pants.  
  
"We're walking right into their realm. Isn't that bad?" He squeaked miserably.  
  
"You know Carl, you _can_ leave at any time." Anna reminded him.  
  
"Do you _want_ me to go?" He asked, appalled.  
  
"Hey, be nice! David Wenham is no Hugh Jackman, but he's still pretty awesome." Cathy ignored the confused looks she knew bore into her back.  
  
_Keep your mouth shut, Catherine._ A voice inside of her mocked. _Remember where it got you last time? Last time when you were in a dark alley, talking with people you have never met?(_1) "It got me friends." She muttered, combing her hand through her hair. _Yes, friends that died._ There was no response, and the teasing voice subsided. But she was still feeling nervous. She had been trapped in the past for a year now. She was pining for her friends, aching to know if they lived or not. She was beginning to crack, to lose her edge. She should've pushed these three away.  
  
"I think we should be silent from now on." Cathy whispered, her eyes trained on the floor.  
  
They kept on. Anna wondered how the hell Cathy knew where she was going, but was grateful nonetheless. She and Gabriel followed her closely, stealing odd looks at her when they could. She didn't seem to notice. She was furiously chewing on her lower lip, eyes glued to the ground. Her fists were clenched at her sides. The whole of her posture suggested some sort of inner struggle or deep pain.  
  
"We can stop if you-"  
  
"No. No, that's okay." She said quickly.  
  
Several times after that they tried to get her attention, ask if she was alright, make sure they were going the right direction... and every time they were met with the same nervous dismissal. Van Helsing was more confused than ever... the woman in his dream had been mysterious at best and he had gone into this not knowing what to expect... but this _still_ wasn't what he had thought it would be. He wanted to know more about this woman. He wasn't sure he could trust what he didn't understand.  
  
Midnight was passing when Cathy at last stopped. Standing very still, she looked all around her, taking in every inch with a palpable sense of paranoia. She took several deep breaths, closed her eyes... and then turned to face the other three.  
  
"They haven't left yet. They're still in their lair." She whispered. Gabriel, Anna, and Carl had to lean in to hear her.  
  
"Where is it?" Carl asked.  
  
"Right here." She whispered back.  
  
"Huh?" Cathy rolled her eyes and turned around.  
  
"The entrance is cloaked. We're not dealing with our everyday vamps here... some of these idiots have magic." She walked straight up to a skinny, weak pine tree, and rested her hand on its bark. She brought the other one up beside it, dug her fingernails in, and _peeled_ apart the bark, slowly but surely revealing a long, dark tunnel. "Voila." She said dryly, standing aside and gesturing to the opening. Van Helsing went in first, Anna and Carl close behind. Cathy cast a glance around the clearing once more, then followed.

* * *

The hallway tapered inward and downward, leading them into a close, stuffy darkness. Carl was decidedly happy he no longer had to breathe. Anna and Van Helsing were on red alert, remembering how they had been caught off guard the last time they were in a nest of vampires. Their eyes were constantly on the ceiling, wary.  
  
There was no sound but the shuffling of their footsteps, which Van Helsing did his best to cloak. It was impossible to see anything, so he felt his way along using the walls as a guide. Hopefully, this would be no more complicated than the last nest they had fought. This time, it was no odyssey of the senses. Rather, it was an odyssey of his mind. Strange thoughts flittered through like moonlit butterflies, thoughts of Anna, Carl, thoughts of Dracula, thoughts of the future, musings on the past... Something about the air made him want to sit and think, remember everything he possibly could.  
  
"Whatever you do, don't stop." Cathy hissed suddenly.  
  
"Why?" Van Helsing asked.  
  
"We're not dealing with ordinary vamps. We've got a couple idiots with magic.... quote unquote 'priests and priestesses.'"  
  
"Priests and priestesses?" Anna piped up.  
  
"....never mind. Just don't stop. There may be more spells."  
  
"Wait, you mean like human priests turned into vampi-" Carl's words were cut off by his own yell.  
  
Anna and Van Helsing ducked on reflex, an instinct that saved their life as two of the vampires sailed over their head, still in human form. First kill went to Cathy, or it would've. She stepped aside of a charge almost before it had begun and drove a wooden stake down into the back of the creature. Stunned, it slammed into a wall, then calmly removed the stake and tossed it away.  
  
"Damn it!" She shouted, diving out of the way of a second charge.  
  
"Try a silver one!" Carl yelled, backed into a corner by a rather confused vampire who was unable to hurt him.  
  
"And where am I going to get one of those?! I'm broke for your information!" She shouted back, rolling and coming around to her feet, punching at the same time so that her attacker flew straight into the strike.  
  
Van Helsing had already tried to bring his automatic crossbow to bear, but it just wasn't working in their tight quarters. There was little time for whining about it; his own assailant was fast bringing his claws to bear. They were sliced off neatly by a Tojo blade.  
  
"Back this way!" Anna shouted, pointing wildly down the hall. The group ran.  
  
They found themselves in a wider cavern, huge, rough and clearly not man or vampire made. Now Gabriel could arm the crossbow, bracing it against his shoulder and waiting for the rush.  
The vampires burst into the cavern, screeches reverberating off the walls, in their winged forms now. Van Helsing wasted no time in firing a stream of bolts, taking one down. Anna's sword was drawn, waiting for one to get close enough for attack, determined and fierce. Carl seemed content to stand there and stare as if he'd never seen a vampire before. Cathy screamed suddenly at the screechings and howlings, clutching her ears as if the sounds hurt. They certainly were very loud and high.  
  
Van Helsing knew that until he could get them on or near the ground, he was their first line of defense. The other three stayed behind him as he continued to fire, keeping his crossbow trained on the five shapes coming around the curve of the cavern and towards them. But as they drew close, they split off into five different directions and Gabriel hesitated, suddenly unsure of where to fire.  
  
Anna bolted out from behind him and he wanted to shout at her to get back until he saw what she was doing. Two of the vampires immediately focused on her, diving in close together to follow her around the room. His fire concentrated on them now, and within seconds of its deadly reign one of the vampires' wings was punctured and it fell to the ground. Anna decapitated it without compunction, then cried out as the second slammed into her and shoved her against a wall. It bared its fangs, prepared to bite her, and suddenly became nothing more than dust as a silver knife punctured its heart.  
  
Van Helsing almost sighed with relief, but it was cut short by a cry from the other side of the room.  
  
"Over here!" Quite quickly, he realized he had no idea who Cathy was talking to, him or the vampires. She was standing opposite the room from Anna, waving her arms, obviously trying to replicate her stunt. Unfortunately, instead of just attracting one or two, she quickly had all three diving at her.  
  
"Shit!" He heard her shout, sprinting away with the vampires in close pursuit. She was keeping up a pretty good pace, but she wasn't going to last forever running away from undead. Remembering what it would mean for her to die, Gabriel followed her with his crossbow alone, firing at her pursuers.  
  
"Kill him!" One vampire shrieked, pointing to Van Helsing. One peeled off and flew straight towards him. He waited until it was straight above him, and then fired again, watching as it spun through the air and slammed finally into the ceiling, bursting into ash and dust.  
  
Dust started to fall from above and all their gazes were forced up.  
  
"Look out!" Anna cried as the stalactites on the ceiling, so small they had not noticed them before, began to fall.  
  
Van Helsing ducked and covered his head, his leather coat stopping most of the falling shards from injuring him worse than a bruise or two. When one struck his hand, there was nothing he could do to keep it from making him drop his crossbow. A vampire cut through the falling rocks and snatched it, tearing the cartridge out and smashing it against a wall, dropping the gun back at his feet as though in mockery.  
  
"I'm out!" He cried, his eyes finding Anna's across the room. She cursed and looked to her side to see Cathy blazing by, nearly bowling her over as she fought to escape the vampires.  
  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit..." Carl could hear her all the way across the room, still trying to escape her pursuers. Now there was just one, the other one having flown towards the disarmed Van Helsing.  
  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit..." She ran right through him and then shoved herself up against the wall, just forty feet from Van Helsing, when a particularly large stalactite crashed into the ground. "Shit!" She screamed, as though for good measure. Van Helsing was too busy shooting the other vampire to say anything, but Carl was all too happy to comment.  
  
"Do you _ever_ get tired of that word?"  
  
"Not when it so perfectly fits my situation!" She cried back, eyes wide with panic. _"Shit!"_ She stumbled and started to run again, only to be knocked over by her pursuer before she had gotten ten feet. She gave a small shout of pain as she was flung forward, her own fist jabbing into her torn up stomach.  
  
It didn't stop her though. She rolled over onto her back and drew her sword, unintentionally timing it so that it slashed open the gut of the vampire diving down. It howled and crashed down not far from her.  
  
_"Kill it!"_ She could hear Van Helsing and Anna shouting.  
  
"No pressure!" She mumbled to herself, rolling over so she was on top of the vampire, sword poised to cut off his head.  
  
And then there was nothing.  
  
She turned to see him behind her.  
  
"Now that's bloody cheating." She managed to say before he backhanded her across the face.  
  
She rolled with the strike, snatching his wrist and bringing him down too. In fact, pulling him straight down onto her sword. This time she didn't hesitate, sitting up enough to give him a vicious uppercut in the jaw. There was enough force behind the strike to push him up off the sword, far enough away so that she could withdraw it and finally slice off his head. She barely scrambled out of the way of the shower of dust and ash, coughing on it as she came to her feet.  
Anna and Van Helsing approached slowly, after-battle weariness already overtaking them.  
  
"Are you alright, Cathy?" Anna asked, seeing the other woman still lying on the ground.  
  
"Oh, don't ask about Carl." The Friar sniffed.  
  
"Still dead, Carl?" She asked dryly, languidly moving her eyes to rest on the indignant ghost.  
  
"Yes, thank you."  
  
"Glad to hear it."  
  
"Hate to burst the bubble of happiness, but I'm still alive." Cathy beamed. She sprung up from her prone position with something less than grace and sidled over. "We should check out the place, make sure there aren't any other vampires hanging around."  
  
"Agreed." Van Helsing responded, picking up his crossbow and tossing it onto his shoulder with practiced ease. He and Anna started to search the cavern's perimeter, looking for entrances to any other chambers.  
  
Cathy fell in behind them, and Carl soon caught up to her, catching at the same time her sour expression.  
  
"What's got your knickers in a knot?" He asked conversationally.  
  
"What's knickers and who says I wear them?" Cathy shot back instantly. His eyebrows shot up and she quickly guessed what he meant. She rolled her eyes; he'd get off easy this time. She like him in the movie. "It's just not fair, I think."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Those vampires. All that flying and teleporting and instantly healing.... it ain't a fair fight, 's all I'm saying." "And they fight differently where you come from?" He pressed.  
  
"Well, yea. It's all hand to hand. The only weapons are your body and a stake, maybe an axe or a sword if you're lucky. Hell, maybe you've got luck if you're lucky." There was a faint bitterness in the way she laughed.  
  
"We found something." Anna called.  
  
They hurried to catch up.  
  
"What d'you make of this?" Van Helsing asked Carl, gesturing to runes on the ground. "It's all we've found, besides odd pools of dried blood." "And this is written in blood." Anna supplemented.  
  
"Let me see." Carl muttered, kneeling. The others backed off to allow him room. "Hmm. Most of it's just gibberish. Very old runic gibberish. I can only make out this part. It says-"  
  
"She's coming." All three turned sharply to look at Cathy. Her expression was blank, passive, as was her stance. She didn't seem to notice them looking at her.  
  
"Well, yes." Carl stuttered. "'She's coming' and.... oh, this part here says something about inevitable..."  
  
"Is all that blood yours?" Van Helsing asked, pointing to Cathy's stomach. As though she was in a dream, she touched her stomach. It was painted in hot, red blood and what appeared to be someone's intestines. Her hands slid through the slippery mess and she didn't seem to care, looking back up at Gabriel like she was confused. Anna made a noise of disgust, looking away from Cathy and then looking back.  
  
"Is all that blood yours?" Gabriel reiterated, taking a step forward. It was the step that caught Cathy's attention; she started and became suddenly aware of ehr surroundings.  
  
"Nope. Damn vamp spilled his guts all over me when I sliced his belly." She poked the mess experimentally, but still didn't seem all that bothered by it. "Hell. I'm gonna need to wash this off."  
  
"We'll go back to the Valerious Manor." Anna said slowly, still disgusted by the mess Cathy was in.  
  
"Oh, goody!" She started off, back the way they came.  
  
"Are you always like this?" The Gypsy Princess pressed.  
  
"Well, killing things is sorta like my job." She shrugged, looking over her shoulder.  
  
"Just business as usual?" Gabriel asked, catching up. Now all four walked side by side.  
  
Cathy grinned and shoved her hands deep in her trench coat pockets, stepping out into the cool darkness of the tunnel. "Something like that."

* * *

A/N- 1 In the RPG Cathy is from, she first met and befriended all the other characters by walking randomly up to them in an alleyway and offering to help them.  
WOOT! I finally finished it!  
Well, I'm off. I must go watch Van Helsing again. I have to turn in it tomorrow, after all... Review, please! 


	6. Chapter 5: Trust and Suspicion

A/N-- Wow! I was very shocked to wake up to reviews this morning! I had expected all my lovely reviewers to forget about me.... M&M's to those that didn't! 

**kydasam**- I was a bit shocked to see you here! I'm trying to remember if you read Ripples in Time or not... Oh, I worked some more on ATF last night and if I do a little more today I might be able to get it up by tonight.   
(1st review)   
Wow! Comparing me to Stephen King! I had a lot of fun writing that chapter... it was meant to be eerie and leave you wondering. I guess I succeeded!   
(2nd review)   
I can completely picture Van Helsing blushing!!! He'd have the best blush! I'm willing to bet that he's rarely embarrassed, but when he is it's just AWFUL! That was another chapter that was all too much fun to write... I just let myself go on that one. I wish i could write a whole fic like that.... but my inner angst calls out for some, well... angst.   
(3rd Review)   
HA! I GOT YOU! JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! Sorry, everyone was all flipping out over the ending of the chapter and you fell for it too! --dancing with self-- It is most definitely karma for all the heart attacks you've given me! I actually favor my heart attack endings more than my heart attack openings, though.   
Thanks for saying I have a gift for humor! I've been told that quite often. It's surprising, I write all this dark stuff, but I'm really a very happy-go-lucky person!   
A nice ghostly bar maid for Carl to play with... --wipes away tear of laughter-- oh god, that one was good.   
(4th review)   
I'm glad you liked the scene in the village... I was afraid that one wouldn't come out right. I really love putting human emotion into the story because I know it captures me and it makes it more fun for me to write... and also because it makes it more real.   
(5th review)   
I can't tell you happy your comments on Cathy made me (and her!) She's one of my most beloved OC's and I was so afraid she'd come off wrong, or that she'd rub people the wrong way, because she definitely has a strong personality. But you described her perfectly, which means I portrayed her well! Thank you!   
**Hollysgirl**- Long time no see! I actually had stopped writing for a while... but Van Helsing came out on DVD and a friend of mine started "peer pressuring" me into finishing this:-) So hopefully updates will be more regular now. I'm really glad that you like Cathy too!   
Cathy: M&M'S!!!!!! --leaps on M&M's and guards jealously-- Mine! Mine! All mine! She likes me! Therefore I get them!!!! --gobbles M&M's-   
Verona: --smacks forehead and shakes head-- you'll never change.   
**Irish Anor**- Ahh! Another reviewer I had missed greatly! --glomps--   
's okay, didn't expect you to remember everything that happened after I waited so long. And your review was hilarious! Then again, when are your reviews NOT insane and wonderful to read? Here's the update!   
**WackyD**- Thanks for your review, it really bolstered my confidence. You've praised all the things I was worrying about! Unfortunately, you probably are going crazy! No, Cathy and Carl will probably just be what my friend Isak has termed "friends that communicate well" (translation: friends that flirt but never intend to go anywhere with it) or maybe even just friends. Hope I didn't burst a bubble!   
**Anthem82( )-** Yay! I am not forgotten! Thanks for the review!   
**HyperCaz**- Yay! One of my favorite reviewers has returned!   
I'll be buying Van Helsing on DVD very soon... I've already rented it twice, but I'm kinda broke now so I have to wait. I'm sure it'll help me, though!

On with the show!

* * *

Chapter Five:   
Trust and Suspicion 

"Wow. And I thought I was lucky I found a nice cave to live in." Cathy murmured fervently as they came upon the Valerious Manor. They had traveled all that night from the village and the sun was just now beginning to broach the horizon.

"Let's get inside! I want to see if it's as cool as in the movie!" She cried, sprinting up the slope towards the front door.   
Anna and Van Helsing exchanged glances, laughing and following. Carl had disappeared with the moon, not to be seen for a little bit, at least.

Anita nearly fell over with shock when she opened the door and the small, lithe woman bolted right past her and into the house.

"Who's that?" She asked as Gabriel and Anna approached, comfortably hand in hand.

"To tell you the truth, Anita, we don't really know either." She shook her head, still smiling as they entered.

Cathy had made a beeline for the weapons room, seeming to know exactly where it was, and was sitting there when they arrived.

"Some pretty cool stuff you've got."

"Thank you." Anna replied. At that moment, Carl reappeared. As it was daylight, they could only see the faintest of smoky outlines; it was moonlight that made him appear whole and so real you could touch his silver body.

"Oh, you should come back to my lab if you _really_ want a surprise." The Friar wasted no time in saying.

"Can I play with the Glycerin 48?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Well, I suppose-"

"Carl, do you listen to every conversation we have in this house?" Van Helsing asked, hands pushing back his coat and bracing themselves on his lower back.

"Sometimes." The Friar admitted with a shrug. The Hunter shook his head. "I do have a reason for being here today, though."

"What?"

"Research."

"Of course." Anna joined in. "The inscription we found. But it was so vague, Carl."

"Not when you put it in context." He turned- or they guessed he did, it was so hard to see -to Cathy. "You said we were dealing with priests and priestesses, right?"

"Well, yea." She shifted from one foot to the next, hands disappearing into her trench coat.

"Then we only need to research about goddesses, and any that vampires might worship. Maybe there'll be prophecies, or something. Legends at the very least. It never hurts to be prepared." "No." Gabriel said, his dream coming suddenly to his mind and giving him chills. "No, it never does."

* * *

"Found anything yet?" Anna asked, reentering the library with a tray of coffee Anita had made for them. 

"No." Van Helsing and Cathy said instantaneously. Van Helsing was leaning up against a wall, a book cradled in his hands. Carl was impossible to see, but judging from the rapidly turning pages of the book on the desk, he was somewhere over there. Cathy was sitting upside down on a couch she had pulled up to the wall, staring tiredly at a book. She flipped over when Anna offered her coffee and took it, but after a couple sips didn't seem particularly interested in that either.

"Nothing?" Anna pressed in vain after handing a coffee to Gabriel and taking a seat next to Cathy.

"The answer hasn't changed, you know." Anna rolled her eyes; Carl was definitely by the desk somewhere.

"Well, let's stop looking at the books a minute and think about what's going on." She instructed. Van Helsing and- unseen -Carl looked up, knowing that tone of voice. "There's been a rise in vampire and werewolf numbers." "And activity." The Hunter added.

"Which could mean that we have another vampire leader on the rise." Carl continued.

"And now we have reason to assume they're female." Anna concluded.

"And not a goddess at all." Cathy rushed to finish, as though determined to be a part of this whole powwow too.

"Well, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that." The Friar piped up. His chair creaked and they assumed he was standing.

"Earlier, I did find an interesting reference to-"

"Argh!" There was the sound of something shattering and some choice swearing as Cathy leapt to her feet, staring down at her lap. Apparently, she had spilled her coffee and dropped the mug in surprise.

"Sorry." She muttered. "Bit of a klutz, you know..."

"It's fine, I'll have Anita clean it up." Anna dismissed.

"Maybe we should do that now, before it soaks into the rug." Cathy replied, pointing to the stain slowly sinking into the plush, soft thing at their feet. The colors were just right so that it looked like blood. The Gypsy Princess made some noncommittal sound of agreement and was about to hurry off when she looked back at the other woman. She was bent over slightly, just enough so that her coat fell open and her newly cleaned shirt leaned forward in the front. She caught the glint of something underneath, the gleam of metal or jewel.

"What is...?" Cathy straightened easily and gave Anna a queer look.

"What's what? It's just a stain. I'm sorry I made it, but some things can just be beyond our control, sometimes." There was something about her voice... something about the way she said those words that defied description. It was almost dangerous, almost pleading, almost angered and almost pained all at once. Her face was carefully blank, but there was a hidden play of emotions in those golden eyes, so quick that you couldn't tell what they were. The two men could not help but look to her as well.

"I'll... just get Anita then." Anna finished somewhat dumbly, heading back out into the hall. She frowned as she went.

* * *

Gabriel's head went up immediately when Anna reentered the room, and he smiled warmly at her. Cathy was curled up on the couch, looking mostly asleep. He had been watching her, but now he had eyes only for his gypsy. 

"You didn't go and die again, did you?" He joked lightly, an eyebrow quirked.

Anna smiled appreciatively at the joke. It had taken them a long time to be able to speak easily about that subject.

"Unfortunately for you, no." She smirked. He closed his book with a faint snap and put it on a nearby table, standing as she approached. She nodded to Cathy. "How long has she been asleep?"

"Not too long. I'm surprised she didn't fall asleep earlier, though. Those wounds were nasty. Oh, and Carl's gone. He went off to check on some reference he found earlier..."

"Mmm..." Anna mumbled, letting Van Helsing draw her into his arms. So warm, so safe, so strong. Together, they could take on the world and win with time to spare. There was no doubting that. She let him tip her head backwards, and was about to let him kiss her, when suddenly she pushed him away. "You distract me too easily." She shot, feigning disgust. "I almost forgot that I had something for you."

The Hunter just raised an eyebrow, planting his hands on his hips and an expectant look on his face. She mimed him, her expression far more serious, and then broke out into soft laughter. Nearby, Cathy grumbled and peeked out from her arms, hissed, then rolled over so she was facing the couch and pulled her coat over her head. They caught some muttered insults to the light in the room and only laughed harder, trying to still stay quiet enough so as not to disturb her anymore.

"We wouldn't want to scare her away, now would we?" Van Helsing said with faint graveness. "After all, she still has to save you."

"Gabriel," She warned. "I don't like this overprotective streak. Soon you won't trust me at all and that will be a problem. You need to trust me to take care of myself, alright?" He nodded mutely. Their mood was suddenly sullen.

"I will not lose you again." He whispered, half to himself. "I won't." Anna reached into her pocket and drew out a silver ring.

"Here." She whispered, folding it into his hand. Gabriel picked it up with his other one and held it up to the light; the band formed two hands that held a heart, on top of which was a crown. It should've been plain, since it was all silver and a little worn, but there was something beautiful about it.

"It was my father's." She explained softly. "It's an Irish claddagh... the hands mean friendship, the crown means loyalty, and the heart means love. Or something like that. I want you to keep it with you always. It doesn't matter whether you wear on your hand or on a chain or just keep it in your pocket... but keep it with you always, to remind you that I love you and I trust you. And let it remind you to trust _me_."

"Thank you." Van Helsing said with a faint, unconscious smile. Carefully, he slid the ring onto his right hand, having taken his gloves off when they returned.

"Not that way!" Anna cried. He jumped back a little, startled, and Cathy let out an anguished groan and flipped over under her coat, curling up and covering her ears. "You don't wear it that way!" She admonished, pulling the ring off and turning it around, putting it back on so that the point of the heart faced in towards the knuckle. Before, he'd had the heart pointing out. "The heart points in to show that you're taken. And to remind you that you belong to me." There was a certain amount of haughtiness in her voice, balanced by the twinkle in her eye.

"Speaking of owning me, when's this whole ceremony going to take place?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, wedding plans!" Anna said with a start, just now remembering.

"I suppose monsters do tend to distract one from trivial things like that."

"_Don't_ start." She warned.

"And I'm guessing I'm still not allowed to give you this look." Gabriel replied with a perfect smirk.

"No, you are not." She said, her crossed arms fitting her cross tone.

"Then how shall I look at you?"

"You _know_ that's not your normal face!"

"What am I doing?"

"Oh God, will you two just _stop_?" The two verbal sparring partners turned to look at Cathy, who had flung herself into a sitting position. Her hair was rumpled around her face but her gold eyes were all too clear, flashing almost to the point of seeming to change color.

"Sorry to break up the tender moment here, but that is really irritating. Shoot me for a hypocrite cuz I do it all the time but I am really in no mood to be bringing up memories." She snapped. Van Helsing was a bit taken aback by her anger and was about to argue, but Anna was transfixed by the pendant she could see just slipping out of her shirt (which she had termed a tank top.

"That." She said suddenly, pointing to it. "That's what I saw earlier. When you broke the cup." Cathy jerked her shoulder so that the pendant slid back inside her shirt. She said nothing.

"Why did you hide it?" Anna asked sharply. "Let me see."

"Begging your pardon," Anita felt suddenly meek, entering that tension-filled room. "But there's been a report of werewolf attack."

"Urgent?"

"They always are. Off we go." Van Helsing replied, walking swiftly out the door with Anna on his heels. Anita was just leaving when Cathy came out, slouching against the doorframe.

"Look, I'm not feeling too good. Sorry for snapping at you. I should probably just stay here before I cause any problems." She muttered.

"Understood." Anna replied a little coolly. "Hurry. Anita said she'd get the horses ready." Van Helsing nodded and began to follow her, but she was so deep in thought that when he turned back to look at Cathy she didn't notice. The other woman was still standing in the doorway. Her arms were wrapped around her ribs and her gaze was focused on some invisible in front of her, judging by the slight frown on her face. He could see that she was filled with a sudden sense of pent-up longing, that she was missing something deeply and longing for comfort but refusing to admit that longing out loud.

She saw him; her legs uncrossed and she stood straight, arms dropping to her sides. The walls went back up again. He nodded to her and continued on his way.

* * *

A/N-- Meh, not too happy with that chapter. I didn't leave enough notes on where I wanted it to go and I completely forgot what I wanted to do with this. I hope everyone likes the business with the Irish claddagh... I love those rings and have one myself. The information might not be accurate. It's just what I've been told and what I looked up briefly last night. Not too exciting, I know, but next chapter will be, I promise! Reviews will keep Cathy and me happy!   
Cathy: Oi, leave me out of this!   
Me: --glaring --   
Cathy: --eyeroll and massive sigh-- Hey. People. Review. I like reviews.   
Me: --beaming-- 


	7. Chapter 6: To Catch a Murderer

A/N-- I'm starting to get back into this story! It's actually quite fun now! Hope you have fun with this chapter.... 

**Hollysgirl**- Cathy: THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!! --snatching M&M's--- mine... all mine..... Oh, and thanks for the compliments. But there's no way in hell I'm telling you about that necklace.  
Me: Yet, my dear. Yet.  
Cathy: Whatever.  
Me: Oh, and I'm glad you like the Irish 'watchamacallits!' Lady Sirinial- Everyone seems to be very intrigued by Cathy! And I had never thought of Carl as being like Skinner... but now that you mention it, it's true! Skinner and Carl rock! Here's the update!  
**Irish Anor**- ROFLMAO! I asked my friend pretty much the same thing when she first said the word glomp. A glomp is a hard, violent, but loving hug. Usually involves running and jumping on someone.  
My god do your reviews crack me up! You know, one I had a dream I was married to Boromir.... and why is abbreviated such a long word? )  
Cathy is wearing a black spaghetti strap tank top, black cargo pant, black combat boots and a black floor length trench coat. Or did you mean the pendant?  
IRISH PEOPLE ROCK! Not that I'm Irish... but they do all the same.  
**Anthem82**- I'm glad the claddaghs were a success!  
**kydasam**- Me: I just loved getting your review! So kind and funny.  
Cathy: Yea, well, you might've liked the idea of sitting in on those two lovebirds, but I was tryin' to sleep!!! And if you ever, EVER try to pat me on the head... I will personally make sure that the hand that touches my head is severed as neatly as possible and sent to Australia.  
Me: eyeroll Try to forgive my dear Catherine.

This chapter is dedicated, with utmost fondness, to my good friend Anna. She went way out of her way to get me the Van Helsing soundtrack, and I'm eternally grateful! Also, I recently finished my slash fic and now I should have more time to devote to this! Of course, there's always the novel nagging to be written... oi!

* * *

Chapter Six:  
To Catch a Murderer...

"Not that way!" Anna shouted.

Van Helsing practically fell onto his face as he pivoted mid-sprint and ducked to avoid several hundred pounds of leaping fur, claws, and teeth. There was the sharp, distinctive crack of a pistol being fired and the hard thump of a body hitting the ground. It was only after these sounds had subsided that he straightened from his crouch.

"That was your fault." He grumbled.

"You went the wrong way!" Anna cried, waving the pistol before settling her hands on her hips.

"It was your plan!"

"You didn't follow it, so I can't be held accountable." She shot back with a decided air, shoving the pistol back into its holster, where it had scarcely begun to get cozy when Van Helsing snatched it out again and fired one more shot into the werewolf's heart just as it was starting to jump up again.

"Monsters have a nasty tendency of trying to attack us just when we think they're dead." He sighed, nonchalantly tossing it back to Anna.

Saying the word like that put a bitter taste in his mouth; he had discovered not long after he and Anna had begun hunting together that he did not enjoy killing werewolves. It was a curse that only came round once a month, and some of them still tried to live normal lives apart from that time. They_could_ be normal, if they just found a way to control their beasts, if they could just lock themselves up during the full moon.

He sucked in his breath and sent the thoughts packing. No time for that now.

"So it's back to town?" Anna asked, hands rested on her hilt as they began to walk back to where they had left their horses. It was a considerable distance, given the fact that they hadn't wanted the animals to go mad with fear at the sight of a werewolf.

"Yes. You know, that's one of the truly lovely things about Transylvania, all the tiny little towns strewn throughout the wilderness." He relayed amicably.

"Don't make fun of us." She said with a faint smile, bumping into him purposefully.

"I'm not. It's actually quite handy." He said. She nodded slowly and they continued on until they had found their horses.

"And we'll stay the night?"

"It's really a matter of whether we'll sleep through the whole night. Where there's a werewolf, there's either a den of them or a vampire."

"Wonderful." A sigh breezed out from Anna's lips. As they were both feeling tired, there was no more conversation until they reached the horses.

"Hello." A crossbow and a pistol were drawn at the one, innocent word; however, it only seemed to amuse Cathy.

"How did you find us?" Anna cried, putting her pistol away.

"You guys are quite the celebrity couple." Cathy said with a shrug. When all she got was raised eyebrows and confused looks, she crossed her arms and said "I _asked_."

"You certainly got here quickly. How are your wounds?" The gypsy princess asked.

"Fine. I've always been a quick healer."

"As fast as you walk, I assume." She continued dryly.

"Yup." She grinned. "So, can we start walking back towards the town?"

"We just battled a werewolf." Anna deadpanned. "We aren't walking anywhere. We're riding." Cathy glanced at the sky and then warily at the horses.

"You can walk or you can ride." The princess prompted. "Your choice." Cathy gulped.

* * *

"I am never, never, never, never, ever doing that again." Cathy said fervently, clinging to the nearest building for support. Van Helsing laughed heartily at how white her knuckles were turning from the pressure she put on the wall.

"Try not to break that wall."

"I'm tying not to break your _neck_. I know you went that fast on purpose." She growled at the Hunter, her eyes flashing. She was so angry, so terrified, that he could swear those gold eyes were either going to change color or jump out at him.

"I merely wanted to get to the town in time to get some sleep." He said nonchalantly, Anna approaching him from behind.

"I have to agree. Aren't you at least happy at how fast you got here?"

"That, my dear Anna, is precisely why I am unhappy." Cathy brooded, withdrawing into her cloak. When Van Helsing spared her a glance, he noticed that she also had her trench coat and regular clothes underneath, and that the cloak itself was at least an inch thick.

"Aren't you hot under all that?" There was no response.

They stepped into the smoky, dimly lit pub carefully; as always, there were mistrustful eyes upon them. This time, however, they seemed more focused on Cathy then on the other two Hunters. Anna and Van Helsing they knew, and even grudgingly accepted on the occasion, but this girl was new. If she noticed the stares, and Van Helsing somehow knew she did, she did nothing about them. Keeping her head down, she calmly approached the bartender and took a seat.

"Got any vodka?" There was the faintest wryness in her voice; he wanted to say it was bitterness, but he was hesitant to do so. There was certainly memory there, though. The bartender wouldn't respond, so she tossed her head so that her hood was dislodged and he could get a clear look at her face.

"No." He responded dispassionately, turning instead to Anna and Van Helsing.

"We just want a room for three for the night." He said. He was reaching into his coat for money when a sudden commotion at his side caught his attention.

"You." The man on Cathy's other side was snarling. "You miserable little-" He made to grab her by the collar, but she jumped quickly off the barstool and to the side, hands up in a defensive posture.

"Hey, I'm not looking for trouble." She said.

"No, only bloodshed! You slaughtered my brother!" The man accused, shoving himself away from the bar. Cathy still kept her hands up, palms open, the universal sign for 'I don't want to fight.' And still, she said nothing against his claim.

The other patrons began to back up, giving them room, as the man came in swinging. Cathy stepped to the outside of the man's strike and seized his wrist. In one lightening flick of her own wrist, he was bent over nearly screaming. She had latched onto his wrist and twisted it, then shoved his arm back towards his shoulder but kept his elbow straight. She was in a strong, wide stance, and her open hand was pressed against his elbow.

"Do you know how much pressure it takes to dislocate or break an elbow?" She asked, her voice breathless and deadly. "'cause I can tell you right now with leverage like this I can cut the number in half." As if to illustrate this, she applied a little more pressure to his elbow and he collapsed all the way to the ground, held up only by her. Wordless, she released him and made for the door of the bar. The crowd that had been gathering parted to let her through. Her cloak billowed behind her like a black omen.

"Cathy!" Van Helsing called.

"Leave her, Gabriel." Anna laid a hand on his chest. "I don't think she's the kind of person you approach like that." Van Helsing gave Anna a measuring glance, then carefully dislodged her hold on his shoulder and walked slowly out of the bar.

He saw Cathy immediately; she was on the roof of the building, one leg bent, the other straight, staring off into space. She seemed completely unfazed by how high up she was and oblivious to Van Helsing. As he began to walk the perimeter of the building, trying to determine how she got up to where she was, she spoke.

"There's a ladder on the side."

The said ladder was quickly located and righted again. Soon, he was sitting beside her. For a moment they just sat there, Van Helsing's breath forming silver puffs in the air but hers hardly seeming to be there at all, and listened to the sounds below them.

"She killed my brother! Slaughtered him! She's a murderer!"

"Easy, easy..."

Cathy's brilliant eyes slid closed again, and then opened. But they were distant now, focused on something Gabriel knew he could not see, no matter how hard he tried: _home_.

"I know it won't be any consolation, but I do know how you feel." He said softly.

Cathy shrugged.

"Back there, you didn't exactly deny what he said."

Silence.

" ...did you kill his brother?"

Silence.

"I'd understand if he was a werewolf or a vampire. Then I really_would_ know how you feel. Was he?" She shrugged again, then drew her knees against her chest and rested her head on them.

"At least where I come from, they don't call us murderers. Us Vampire Hunters. They don't know we exist. We're fairy tales. But really... we're just..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "I don't know what I'm saying." Van Helsing nodded silently. "We aren't murderers." She added a minute later, her voice so soft he almost thought he was hearing things and that she hadn't spoken at all.

Her face was what many would consider impassive at the moment, her dark hair strewn with gold streaks fanned slightly by the cold wind, but like before in the manor he could sense that deep pain taking over her. He suddenly felt like he was an intruder, superfluous at that moment. A garish decoration to the scene. She took away his discomfort very quickly, standing and walking with surprising balance and confidence across the roof and back towards the ladder.

"You're right." He called after her, standing. She paused, the majority of her body already on the ladder and only her hands remaining on the roof. "We aren't murderers."

Cathy smiled, faint but sincere. He knew it was the closest he'd get to a thank you. He watched as she climbed down the ladder and disappeared around the shadow of the building. Probably going to hide somewhere around the back, find a place to sleep. He understood that she couldn't go back in there.

Gabriel remained on the roof for a little while, feeling vaguely guilty. Before it had been because he felt he was intruding on something very private, following her up here and watching at what, though he didn't know her well yet, must be her most vulnerable. Now it was because he wanted to know what she was longing for. What it was she was keeping in. What she was hiding. Now he understood how some people must feel around him.

"Van Helsing?"

"Up here." He called to Anna, waving. She waved back.

"Did you find Cathy?" She called.

"Yes. She's gone now."

"Where?"

"I didn't look. You were right... she needed to be alone."

"Well, I'm going to have to be wrong this once. She needs to be with us right now." She admitted. "I was talking to someone in the pub. We might have a lead on where that werewolf came from."

"Den or vampire?"

"Vampire. Another nest. It sounds like this one might be huge." Sighing, the Hunter located the ladder and climbed down to join his fiance.

"Leaving now?"

"Good thing we never paid for the rooms." Anna returned wryly, hands on her hips, head to one side in her classic pose.

"Cathy?" Van Helsing called. "We're leaving!"

"You can stay if you like." Anna continued for him.

"And miss the picnic?" She cried, feigning mortification as she came out from the shadow of the building with one hand over her heart. "Miss the bloodshed and witty remarks and camaraderie? Never! You're stuck with me now!"

"So that means you'll be getting back on the horse then?" Van Helsing smiled slyly. Instantly, Cathy's face paled.

"Erm..."

"Oh, don't worry." Anna said with a coy grin. "You can ride behind me this time."

* * *

Things were not going well for Cathy.

Riding behind Anna had been bad enough- they had taken enough needless right angle turns to give rise to the belief that her neck would never be the same again -but this was just bad. Too many vampires here for the three of them.

She caught the vampire's strike and drew her sword, jabbing its hilt up and instantly snapping his elbow. The action reminded her of the man in the pub, and angrily she slashed out with the sword and bared its belly with a spray of blood that she ignored. She was already covered in enough of the hot liquid. She was very used to blood.

She came around with the sword again, this time severing the dazed vampire's head in one clean slice. There was no rest, though; she had to spin and strike out with her back leg, slicing down simultaneously, to put a stop to a new attack from another male vampire.

"Do yall really like me that much?" She grunted as he too burst into ash.

"Cathy!"

Van Helsing's shout caused her to freeze and look over her shoulder, sword angled down slightly. If the air hadn't been suddenly blasted from her lungs, she would've made some caustic remark about a late warning.

She couldn't help but scream as the transformed male tackled her football style around the ribs and crashed her into a tree, then still holding onto her began to fly upwards. But she was still pressed up against the tree, so that the tree's bark scraped against her skin and branches repeatedly struck her.

Most definitely not going well.

When they finally cleared the trees, the vampire tossed her into the air and caught her underneath her arms, preparing to tear her throat from her neck. She was powerless to stop it.

"Gabriel!"

Now it was Van Helsing's turn to be distracted by the calling of his name. But Anna was not calling him for his own safety; she gestured to the sky and he looked up in time to see a sword coming crashing down through a tree's branches to stick straight up and down in the middle of the clearing.

Cathy's sword.

He shouted her name and took aim with his crossbow, hoping furiously that Anna could hold her own against the vampires for a while. The other woman looked to him through the branches and took his warning, bracing herself as the bolts struck her captor in the arms. His scream echoed through the night as he dropped her, but she was quicker than that. She seized the edges of his wings, forcing them to glide straight towards the ground and in-between several trees. She could feel blood trickling down her cheek for the branches they hit, but concentrated on reaching the ground in time.

Gabriel had turned back to the fight- and it was a hard one -beside Anna when he heard the_whoosh_ of wings behind him and the screaming of an angry vampire. But the one behind him was not letting him make an opening that would give him the chance to turn around.

As Cathy and her impromptu hang glider sailed closer and closer to the ground, she let go with one hand to snatch up her sword.

"Look out below!" She screamed in final warning, letting go of her vampire's wings and landing squarely on the back of the one behind Gabriel, at the same time slicing down and taking its head. With a burst of ash and a confused howl, it died and Cathy landed in a crouch on the ground.

Gabriel whirled in shock, having just finished off his vampire and seeing the one behind him turn to dust, Cathy remaining there. With a final burst of dust and ash, Anna's vampire was dead too. The clearing was swathed all in silence except for ragged breathing as the Princess staggered over to the Hunter and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned his head against hers and together they sunk to the ground, just holding each other for a moment.

"And I thought... the Brides were hard... they were only three... these ones...should've been harder than this..." Van Helsing managed to get out.

"These vampires were young... and male... numbers made no difference." Anna replied, her breathing a little more stable than his. He frowned at her comment about them being male- the nest was sort of like a group of bachelor vampires, not a vampiress in sight -and poked her in the ribs. Anna just laughed weakly and snuggled against him.

Van Helsing looked over at Cathy, who was still crouched facing them. He opened his mouth to thank her for saving him when suddenly her whole body tensed up and her eyes dilated. She spun around, kicking out with one foot and tripping up the supposedly dead vampire behind her.

"You're just a threat!" He snarled as he fell beside her; she scrambled to one side crab-like. "No others here-" The word 'here' was in fact mostly cut off by the flash of a sword. But it wasn't a clean cut; in only managed to go half of the way through.

While the vampire was gasping and choking and the two other Hunters were struggling to regain their feet, Cathy pulled herself slowly to hers. The gaze she fixed the sputtering vampire below her wasn't filled with contempt or disgust; it was almost an imperial look, cold, distant but somehow radiating power. The vampire looked up, and then rage and pain turned to horrified shock, and then something like reverence. He pulled himself up using her body.

"I would rather that no one else killed me..." He whispered fervently, slippery fingers clinging clumsily to her shoulders.  
Remorseless, Cathy drew her sword over her back and finished the cut. She stepped out of the way to avoid ash coating her bloodied body.

For a long time she stood there, arms at her sides, legs spread apart, chest heaving as she regained her breath. Her fingers twitched limply, and her sword fell to the ground. The noise was muffled by the leaves on the forest floor. Van Helsing and Anna watched her tentatively, taking a few hesitant steps forward.

"Cathy...?" Anna dared to call out. There was no response.

Van Helsing stepped forward, reached out and touched Cathy's shoulder. In a whirl she was upon him, gold eyes flashing with rage, hands coming towards him like claws ready to cut him open, sword within her reach now as she knocked him over and into Anna, pinning the gypsy. A solid kick leaving him breathless, dizzy, and at her mercy.

* * *

A/N-- Can anyone tell I was_so_ too lazy to be writing full battle scenes today? :-) Well, I hope the cliffie made it worthwhile.... and review, I'm anxious to see how you took it.... 


	8. Chapter 7: Did You Just Try to Kill Me?

A/N-- hehehehehe... I'm in a good mood for no apparent reason... 

**The Princess Anna Valerious**- I'm glad you noticed your dedication! Woulda been kinda bad if you hadn't! And I hope you enjoy the chapter.  
**kydasam**- Thank you for your, as always, lovely review! I'm glad you enjoy Cathy's sense of humor. Actually, the whole story's genre would be more like 'Mystery/Romance/Humor/Action-Adventure/Horror/Mild Angst' if fanfiction had that many spaces for it, since by the end it will have had elements of all of those. I just chose the two predominant ones... And this chapter should shed some light on your worries about Cathy! )  
**Anthem82-** The wait is over! I hope this chapter doesn't_completely_ kill the suspense... which it probably will...  
**Irish Anor**- Ohhhh man...... if they've invented a way to laugh harder than I did at your review, I haven't heard of it yet! I only hope my story entertains you as much as your reviews entertain me!

* * *

Chapter Seven:  
Did You Just Try to Kill Me?

Cathy reached for the sword behind her and brought it swinging around towards Van Helsing, so fast that its diamond edges whistled keenly through the air like the wail of the dying. But it wasn't his wail or Anna's; he retained the presence of mind to roll to one side and pull his gypsy with him. The sword struck forest floor and stayed there, while the Hunter leapt to his feet and seized Cathy by both her wrists before she could attack him again. She seemed suddenly calm... confused, even... as he slowly lowered their hands.

"Did you just try to kill me?" He asked, his voice low and harsh, but shocked too. His brows knit heavily.

Cathy jerked her wrists out of his grasp and picked up her sword, ramming it into its scabbard. She would not meet his eyes.

"None of that. I'm not taking silence for an answer like I did on the roof." Van Helsing said in a rougher tone than he meant, grabbing her shoulder. She jerked away again.

"I'm sorry. It was just... instinct." She answered uneasily. Gabriel rocked back on his heels a little, his breath rushing out of his nose as he watched her. He was reminded distinctly of a grave digger he had met a year ago.

"I'd understand if you had tried to punch me or block when I touched your shoulder, but you were coming at us with a sword when you'd had more than enough time to figure out that we weren't enemies."

"God_damn_ it! Not right _now_!" Cathy shouted suddenly, whirling around and pounding her fist so hard on the tree behind her that Anna could swear she heard the bark crack and saw the branches shiver. The hand that had struck it went slowly to Cathy's side and she stood there, head bowed slightly, like she was bringing herself under control. They got the sense she had not been talking to them. Despite this, she turned suddenly to the two Hunters, desperation in her eyes. "I don't know if I can tell you." She murmured uneasily, chafing her arms and stalking to the other side of the clearing. They watched her every moment. Her back was to them again, and when she turned around this time she looked defeated. She opened her mouth... and blood dribbled out.

They watched as every muscle tensed and her face dissolved into a mask of pain. She looked down slowly at the sword in her solar plexus- her sword -and then turned her head enough to see the vampire who had jabbed it through her. Then, calmly, she flung her hand out and backhanded him away, the weapon remaining imbedded in her. There was the sharp report of a gun being fired, and he burst into ash.

"Monsters do have a habit of jumping up at us when we think they're dead." Anna remarked absently, lowering Van Helsing's shotgun. Its owner was too busy staring at Cathy.

Calmly, she pulled the sword out. She reached for a cloth and cleaned the blade off, then sheathed it. She looked back at them. Blood was making its way down her shirt. Van Helsing knew the strike had gone straight through her spine, or at least through her ribs, punctured vital organs and blood vessels if not her lungs, exited out the other side, and now she was just standing there looking at them.

"How?" He asked, almost fearing the answer.

"Vampires don't die that easy. Not even where I come from."

* * *

Van Helsing came to a swift conclusion. The conclusion being that Carl had been right all along. He was incredibly stupid.

Cathy had been dropping little, unconscious hints ever since they met. She had sustained an injury that could've well been fatal, walked miles, fought, returned to the Valerious manor and slept under a blanket, moving the couch so it stayed out of the sunlight. When he and Anna had headed out to fight the werewolf, she had said she was sick so that she could stay inside. She had probably left not long after them, pulling on that huge, thick cloak to keep her safe from the sunlight, and hid out in the town until she thought they were done. She wasn't hot in all those clothes because by nature her body was cold.

Sitting on the roof, he had hardly seen her breath in the night air because she didn't need it. Whenever she was angry, her eyes flashed _almost to the point of changing color_. He hadn't been seeing things.

He closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his forehead. Everything she had done had pointed to it. And he had not seen. He had trusted her, even been fascinated by her, in the short time they had known each other. And he was to trust Anna's life in her hands, according to his dreams. He wondered, suddenly, if he was wrong as well as stupid. Maybe thick-headed would cover all bases.

Gabriel became suddenly aware of the silence. Anna was staring at Cathy sharply, but the woman didn't seem to notice. She was looking to Gabriel. Wanting his approval? Expecting it?

"Why did you l-"

"I didn't. I just didn't tell you." She cut him off.

"Why?" He rephrased softly.

"Because... in this place, vampires are different. You're used to seeing them as always evil, always soulless, always something to be destroyed."

"And what, you have a soul?" Anna asked dryly.

Cathy looked at her and laughed bitterly.

"No. But a lot of my good friends didn't either. And we were Hunters just like you. Fighting the good fight. Loving a lot. Dying a lot. Pretty fun, actually. It was us against Hell, and we did a bang-up job." Gabriel nodded, and the accusation went out of his eyes.

"Vampires fighting vampires?" Anna was not so easily swayed.

"That and demons, and each other on the occasion. We didn't have the greatest sense of control, sometimes, cuz when you love without a soul... it can tend to get out of hand. Don't worry," She smiled wryly. "I was always the innocent, loveless one. I won't be going nutty like_that_ anytime soon."

"So you're saying we should trust you again?" The gypsy asked.

"Yes." Cathy said quietly, unassumingly, with a nod of her head. The motion made her hair catch and shimmer faintly in the moonlight.

Anna sighed and looked at Van Helsing, her gaze so hard she seemed to be trying to force her way into his mind by sheer will and find out what he thought of this. He figured a nod would suffice and nod he did.

"Being a vampire can be pretty helpful." Cathy supplied. "I mean, it's hard to kill me so you can send me into some pretty bad situations-_not_ that I'm cannon fodder -and I'm really strong and fast and I heal quick and... well..." She stopped abruptly, realizing she had run out of abilities for her kind. "Don't send me away. Kill me if you must, but don't just give me the cold shoulder." Anna realized that this was the closest she would ever come to getting the woman before her to plead. It was a rather pathetic attempt in any case.

"Helpful? I'm not sure your victims feel that way."

"I don't kill humans." Cathy said harshly, glaring at Anna. "I drink pig's blood back home since the butcher's shops are always happy to give it away, and here I've been hunting deer in the forest and drinking their blood. The only ones suffering are the wolves and werewolves I guess, but I don't take too much from them."

"Alright." The princess sighed. "Come back to the manor with us. We'll discuss it there."

* * *

"Anna, we can't send her away."

"Yes we can. I'm just wondering if we should." She sighed, polishing her sword.

Van Helsing watched Anna from his place in the doorway to her room, sensing her tenseness.

"We can't send her away."

"And why not?" She asked, turning in a flurry of chocolate curls.

"Because she's the one that's going to save you-"

"You're obsessing over this dream!" Anna accused. "Maybe she sent the dream to lure us out there. Maybe it was a lie so that she could kill us both. I won't lose you like that."

"And I'm not taking any chance of losing you to... whatever that was!" The other Hunter shot back hotly. "Look, I know my gut instincts. Do you remember when I told you that I could sense evil?"

"Yes. Underneath the old windmill." She replied softly.

"After some_strong_ absinthe." Gabriel grinned, a smile she returned. They had mended through the memory of harshness, as only a couple that's been through an ordeal by fire can. "Well, she isn't evil. I know it." Anna sighed, sheathed her sword and crossed her arms.

"I guess you're right. She's been a vampire since the moment we met her and that hasn't stopped her from helping us out and I happened to like her then. I shouldn't let this change that."

"Maybe you should go talk to her." Gabriel suggested. She nodded and was heading off when he caught her arm. "And if you're late, run like hell." He smiled. They decided to skip the rest of the memory, going straight to the kiss, before he let her go off to find the vampire.

* * *

Cathy kept a watch on Anna out of the corner of her eye.

"So vampires where you come from are different?"

"Yea. No flying or teleporting or walking up walls for us. Hell, are fangs aren't even that great. Oh, and silver won't kill us. It has to be a wooden stake, head cut off, full exposure to sunlight, and I have a nasty suspicion that forcing us to drink holy water just might kill us too. And it's possible for us to control our demons. It really is. I've been fighting evil for about twenty-four, twenty-five years. Since I was thirteen."

"How old were you when you were turned into a vampire?"

"Seventeen." Cathy said with a quiet nod, her gold eyes flickering the ground momentarily. "Seventeen." Anna nodded and they walked through the crisp night in silence.

"I'm sorry I jumped on you earlier." She said after a moment.

"No big. I'd probably have the same reaction in your shoes. After all, I did attack your man." She smiled grimly. "It was probably all the blood around or something like that... I'm so sorry. Normally it doesn't affect me that way."

"I've got news that should affect everyone!" Both women jumped back with a start at Carl's appearance. He had the same eager, determined light in his eyes as he had had when explaining to Anna and Van Helsing about Dracula.

"What?" Cathy asked, her voice sharp for no fathomable reason. Carl was all too eager to answer.

"I know who_she_ is!"

* * *

A/N-- Sorry for the copious amounts of dialogue/nothing happening/no humor/no romance/no action!! Just some plot development that needed to be conveyed!! I would've turned the chapter after this and this chapter into one, but the next one might be kinda long and this was about the only place I could cut it off. So, review but try not to kill me! Well, maybe you should kill me cuz I feel insanely bad for such a horrible chapter.

Cathy: Yea. Review. She needs to die. Oh, and I'm dying to know how many of you hate me for being a vampire.


	9. Chapter 8: The Chaos Curriculum

A/N-- Hello all! The fic will start picking up in the chapter after this, I swear... Sorry for the delay in getting here, anyway! 

**HyperCaz**- I only killed Carl to show that Van Helsing's actions in RIT would have consequences. He had to overcome that in order to have his friend back in_some_ way. Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**Lady Sirinial**- Cathy: Awwww, I'm looooved!  
Me: She just said she didn't hate you. That doesn't mean she loves you.  
Cathy: Damn.  
Me: Oh, and don't worry! There is still much Gabriel/Anna fluff to come!  
**The Princess Anna Valerious**- Yes, dear, I probably told you Cathy was a vampire at COR. And I did email you!  
**Irish Anor**- Cathy: SHELOB?! I take offense to that!  
Me: You'll be over it in like two minutes. Thanks for the review, anyways!  
Cathy: Oh, and I'm glad you don't hate me!  
**Lady sernna Valerious**- I'm glad you're happy about Cathy being a vampire! It is a nice twist, no?  
Cathy: If you don't say so yourself.  
Me: I did say so myself.  
**kydasam**- I've done that before on your stories like twice! Isn't it a pain!  
Thanks for your well-worded review. As always, it was an inspiration. Hopefully you'll be able to put up with all the dialogue in_this_ chapter... --twitch--

* * *

Chapter Eight:  
The Chaos Curriculum 

"I know who _she_ is!"

"Don't jump out of your dress." Anna said dryly.

"And don't wet it for that matter. Who d'you mean?" Cathy's voice was unexpectedly sharp, her face drawn with apprehension.

_"She!"_ Carl cried again, his eyes still eager, as though he expected the two women to understand who '_she_' was.

"Me?" Cathy asked slowly. Her heart stopped briefly.

"No, not you! _She_! She who is coming!" Carl's face fell as they seemed to be failing to understand what was going on. Really, must they take the fun out of _everything_ by making him spell it out?

"The inscription we found." Anna blurted suddenly.

"Yes! That _she_!"

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Cathy said, her crossed arms fitting her cross tone.

"Forgive me for being carried away with excitement." The Friar replied indignantly.

"Yea, all schoolgirls can be forgiven for their behavior when they're a-twitter with excitement." She muttered.

"Are you calling me a girl?" Carl gaped.

"Hey, lighten up. That's probably the biggest compliment you've ever gotten in your life." Cathy grinned wickedly.

"I agree." Anna smiled smugly. "After all, she _is_ elevating you to _our_ level."

"Well, you two aren't at _her_ level." Carl grumbled.

"Out with it Carl, it's going to get confusing if you keep calling her _her_ and _she_!" Anna snapped.

"We must find Van Helsing." Carl determined. "I don't want to repeat this twice."

* * *

"Okay schoolgirl Carl, what has your research turned up?" Cathy was receiving a cornucopia of looks from the room's occupants: a withering stare from ghostly Carl, a smile from Anna and a confused look from Van Helsing. She smirked and took another drink from her canteen, dirty boots propped up on the table before Carl and back slouched against the chair. She appeared perfectly at ease and in a devilishly good mood. 

The Friar practically snarled at her, picking up her boots by the toe and dropping them on the floor, which they hit with a resounding thump. Anna sniggered again.

"Well? The class is waiting for your presentation." The vampiress teased.

"We've all heard of a time, long ago, when-"

"Oh, Carl, don't start with 'long ago,'" Anna whined. "The things that start long ago never turn out to be fun. They always turn out to be boring."

"Not to mention dangerous." Gabriel supplemented.

"But I didn't start with 'long ago!' It was in the middle of the sentence!" The flustered Friar cried.

"Yea, yea, yea. Get on with it!" Cathy balled up a blank piece of paper and tossed it through Carl. Had he been solid, it would have hit him smack in the forehead and the knowledge of this was obviously angering.

"**_Quite some time ago,_**" He enunciated carefully. "Mystical life began: demons and vampires. Hell's spawn. I suppose there_were_ humans about because there was said to be a young woman who was bitten by the night. The first vampire."

"But I thought Dracula was the original vampire? The son of the devil? The most powerful vampire?" Anna asked, her brows knitting.

"In this world, perhaps. A more accurate description would be the most powerful child, I guess, but I'll get to that. Anyway, she was known as Dark Anarchy and eventually, Chaos. She had other names too, but most people wouldn't say them. She could only sustain life by drinking the blood of others, but each time she drank the whites of her eyes filled in with red. She was also a powerful sorceress, and with every spell she cast her pupil consumed her iris, until her eyes were said to be black-on-red, with the purest blood-red where whites should have been and naught but black where there would be a pupil and an iris. That's how you'll know who she is, the eyes are unmistakable. She was also said to be _very_ slight of build and height, with ebony hair streaked with white."

"Why don't you just give us her bra size while you were at it?" Cathy smirked. This time she earned herself arched eyebrows and confused eyes. "I am _so_ not explaining that one." She said fervently.

"Might I trouble you with your attention?" Cathy let out a gusty sigh.

"If you _really_ must be _such_ a nuisance..."

"Thank you." Carl seethed. It didn't take him long to bounce back into his storytelling voice, though. "She began to turn other humans into creatures like herself, but none ever became quite so powerful as she."

"How powerful?" Van Helsing asked critically.

"She could fly. Cross into other worlds. Kill just by thinking. Take all the abilities of any vampire and multiply it, take it to the extreme, and she had it. It only makes sense, because she was their mother and they revered her for it. She was a god."

"Literally?" asked the Hunter.

"Literally." Carl said in all seriousness. "She was a god. The god of vampires. Or goddess, I should say. Impossible to kill. So the humans fought back, waging a terrible, fruitless war for century after century. Sometimes they would fight through to the core of the army and reach Chaos herself, but every champion they sent in there died at her hands.

"So they used magic to imprison her in something, a jewel of some kind." Carl held up a manuscript with a picture of a small woman with dark hair, streaked with white, being sucked screaming into a jewel while vampires around her howled in anger. "It got rather vague there. The vampires were dispersed, slaughtered, and never again were numbers of that kind seen. There used to be millions of them. But still they worship Chaos: if she were to rise, every vampire in the world would have no choice but to be drawn to her siren's call. She could still wield an army."

"That would explain the rise in the vamps you guys said you were seeing." Cathy mused.

"So this 'she's coming business'... she's going to escape her prison?" Van Helsing asked gravely.

"She can't escape. Someone would have to let her out. There was a reference about a vessel of some kind, something or someone that was needed... like a key... but I couldn't find anything else out." Carl finished, a little disappointed.

"But maybe there's another way." Anna replied. "Another way for her to escape."

"We can't take any chances." The Friar added.

"Wooden stake." Cathy said suddenly.

"What?" Gabriel asked, turning to her.

"A wooden stake ought to do the trick. Like in the old movies." She explained.

"Do you understand, Cathy? This is a **_god_**. Gods don't die." Carl said, as grave as he ever got.

"Oh, I understand." She said softly. "I understand."

"We should start combing the wild," The gypsy princess spoke up. "And try to keep down as many vampires as we can. If she is indeed 'coming,' we don't want an army already waiting for her."

"I agree. Shall we start out?" Van Helsing said, standing and putting on his hat.

"Down to business right away?" Anna asked, her eyes softening. "We keep missing out on our time to plan the wedding."

"Damn, you really intend to marry me, don't you?" The Hunter winced.

"You asked, you oaf!" She cried, punching him in the ribs. "Why would you asked if _you_ didn't want to marry _me_?"

"Uhhh, I'm gonna be going." Cathy said. "Y'know, class is over and I was always one to rush out as the bell rang... well, actually, I wouldn't know, I never passed daycare...." She flashed them one of her roguish smiles, golden eyes alight. "Good night."

"Good night, Cathy." Van Helsing grinned, one arm comfortably resting on Anna's shoulder.

"Good night." The princess smiled back.

"Let the bed bugs bite!" Carl spat venomously.

Cathy laughed all the way out of the room, her stride relaxed and confident. The minute the door closed every muscle went slack and she fell against it, sinking to the floor. Every part of her shook. She folded in on herself like a piece of paper and let herself tremble, burying her face in her knees as she fought to regain control of her terror. Eventually, she did. She stood quickly and walked just as fast down the halls to the room Anna had indicated earlier. She shut herself in and lay down. She never found sleep that day.

* * *

"Alright. We can plan some. But tonight we leave!" Gabriel conceded, flopping down on the chair. Carl was back in the books, muttering to himself. It was a familiar sound, a relaxing one. Anna flopped down next to him. 

"Well, I never thought much about marriage when I was younger." She replied, head rested on his shoulder. "Dracula was the only man in my life besides my father and brother."

"I hope you never had intentions to marry _any_ of the men you just named off." Van Helsing said fervently.

"Well..." She let the sentence hang with a sly grin, then picked up again. "I don't want it to be huge."

"And I was thinking of inviting the whole Vatican too." He sighed.

"_Enough_ with the sarcasm!" Anna cried, slapping his chest hard enough to make him wince and wriggle away. "I was thinking small because neither you nor I have family and not many people in Transylvania like you anyway."

"So callous." He said, hand over his heart. "It almost hurts more than you striking me."

"It's the truth, you know." Carl looked up. "Oh, and don't even _think_ about hiring a priest. I'll be doing the ceremony myself, thank you _very_ much."

"But you'd be invisible if we had it during the day, which we probably will." Anna replied. "We don't need to be inviting monsters for a snack."

"Then you'll deal with me being invisible. I simply will not have anyone else marrying my two friends off when I spent a _year_ praying for them to just get it over with! No, I have to make sure you two thick-headed Monster Hunters go through with this." Carl said firmly. "And that's that."

"Alright then." Anna shrugged it off. "So we've decided on small and informal."

"Paranormal, you mean. What else could you call a wedding with two Monster Hunters and an invisible Friar's blessing?" Gabriel laughed.

"You _are_ hopeless." Anna sighed, resting herself against him once more. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"Not as long as I have you."

That conversation stayed with him over those next days, fighting throughout the countryside, killing vampires and werewolves alike. Always he was watching the moon, waiting for it to wane into a sickle. As long as he had Anna, he still had hope for himself. But soon he might be fighting to keep her.

* * *

A/N-- Me: Awww, ya have to admit that part at the end was sweet!  
Cathy: --flatly-- It was corny.  
Me: Shut up. Anyways, review! Next chapter we get some aaaaction! Which means M&M's!  
Cathy: --perking up-- M&M's! M&M's! M&M's!!! 


	10. Chapter 9: The Dark Side of the Moon

A/N-- We're baaaaaaaaack! I'm starting to get all excited, too... M&M's to my lovely reviewers! 

**The Princess Anna Valerious**- Yes, no more rhyming would be nice.... and we'll see about that wedding.  
**kydasam**- Come on, _you can do it_!  
Thanks for your comments on the humor! It was the only possible way to make that chapter bearable. As for your comment about 'shades of Buffy,' I've been waiting for someone to pick up on them! I definitely look to that show for inspiration.  
Cathy: Poor little thing. _Poor little thing?!?_  
Me: Honey, you're 5'5" and built like a twig. _You are a little thing!_  
Cathy: But-  
Me: Oh, get past your Napoleon Complex!  
**Lady Sirinial**- Thanks for your review! And it's all resting on Cathy now as to whether or not Anna dies.  
--sings-- _But every hope and every prayer  
Rests on you now......  
_  
Okay, I'm done quoting Phantom of the Opera...........

* * *

Chapter Nine:  
The Dark Side of the Moon 

"Game... set... match!" Cathy smiled devilishly and hopped down off the dying vampire below her, completely unperturbed as it burst into dust behind her. Her sword resting casually on one shoulder, she went to go find Van Helsing and Anna.

It wasn't very hard at all: find one and you find the other, they stick together like some sort of metaphysical superglue has permanently attached them to each other. Well, they did make a nice couple, she thought with a shrug. Being very used to their scents now, she found them at the entrance of the building waiting for her.

"Did you take care of the puppy problem?" She asked, her hand on one hip and using the name she had coined for anything having to do with werewolves... also translated as 'a problem that there's no way in Hell you can make me help with.'

"They're dead." Van Helsing said tightly. Over the past weeks he had discovered that there were times when Cathy's blase view towards killing was a breath of fresh air and others when it grated on him like nails on a chalkboard. Maybe the fact that she was a vampire allowed her to sense the tension on him- she really wasn't a very intuitive person as far as he could see -because her face softened.

"I had a werewolf friend, once." She said, leaving it at that as they headed out of the massive house.

Carl had already been about the previous day, hanging crosses and strands of garlic around every window and door so that their quarry- yet_another_ nest of vampires, but this time an immigrated one from England -could not escape. They had debated about torching it, and in the end decided to leave it with its holy garnishes and pray that would keep any new monsters out of it.

Cathy was still learning to ride a horse; the journey from the house wasn't much fun. She tried to distract herself from the pain of bouncing up and down at an endless trot- "To conserve the horses for tomorrow," -by losing herself in the environment, opening up her heightened senses to what was going on around them. She rarely did this; all things related to her monster were to be controlled with utmost care. The powers that had been thrust upon her were hers to control, not the other way around.

She flinched, her free hand coming up absently to touch her chest, right near where her heart was. Well, almost all of them.

The night was cold- too damn cold for her Southern Californian blood -and all she could really smell was blood. Stupid nose, zeroed in on it right away and wouldn't let her smell anything else. Oddly, what she was smelling now was not her blood or Anna's or Van Helsing's or even the blood of one of the creatures they had slain that night. She already knew those scents. This was something different.

She kept her mouth shut on the way to their campsite and wordlessly left them after tethering her horse. The other two Hunters didn't say or do anything, well used to her leaving of her own free will. She always came back.

Cathy followed where the scent led her, tensing and thickening around her almost like a physical thing as she got closer and closer to its source. Naturally, it made her more and more tense. This was human blood. God, her whole body was almost calling out for it. This only made her control more and more thin, and it was waning with the moon as it was. _Why did I go wandering off alone again? I hate me, sometimes._

There was a sudden flare of light and magical energy lacerated her senses like the crack of a whip, unmistakable to any mystical creature. Cathy dropped onto all fours and held herself there, muscles taut and every sense straining. Her skin prickled everywhere with the residue of the spell.

"The fourth perimeter is set. All is ready. Our goddess arises with the sickle moon." said one voice, rich, sultry and reverent in the darkness.

"I smell another of our kind." Came a second, singsong in the darkness. "Why don't you join us, sister?" Cathy sidled out of her hiding place, unfazed by the fact that they had known she was there and they had even known her gender. It only made sense, since she had known they were vampires and that one was male and the other female. Scent was a most useful tool sometimes.

"It's already begun." Said the man, the one who had called her out, as he stepped towards her. She noted that he was stepping out of a circle of trees, while the woman was remaining within. "Already our kind are being drawn here, to these places of power. Why didn't you make yourself known? We should all be rejoicing!" He cried.

"I didn't come out because I had a feeling you didn't want to die." Cathy said lightly. In a flash a silver knife was out and buried in-between the vampires ribs. He didn't even scream before he burst into dust.

The woman just laughed and fled, transforming and flying off into the night. Cathy gave her a warning roar and then turned back to the clearing without entering. It had been blasted clear, whether by the magic she had felt earlier or by natural causes she didn't know. She wanted to say it was mystical, but old. No new spell had caused this, it didn't have that tingly new residue that all magic left behind. Instead she felt ancientness creeping over her skin, her scalp, making her keenly aware of everything going on.

The blood was screaming at her now, so strong a scent that she physically shuddered and groaned. When was the last time she had fed?

_"No!"_ She hissed at herself. "Get a grip, Cathy!" She still couldn't help but look in the direction of the scent, though.

She saw a man lying on the ground, crumpled against a tree, and walked quickly over to him. His head lolled about to bring her into focus and he gave a strangled cry when he saw her staring at his wounds. Highly ritualistic, she noted with a detached air. He had been a sacrifice. Well, she could earn some brownie points by saving him.Preventing the death of the sacrificemight even nullify the effects of whatever went on here.

She knelt at his side and reached into her trench coat, lips parting to reveal slightly elongated canines as she concentrated on finding the herbs she needed.

"Hey, hey, easy!" She said to the man, who was trying furiously to wriggle away. "I'm just trying to help!" She waved her hands, accidentally brandishing the knife. His fingers seized her wrist, the grip unusually strong, and took it from her. She tried to stop him from plunging it into his throat but could do nothing except look away.

Cathy stood and regretfully pried the knife from his fingers and wiped it on the forest floor. If it hadn't been Van Helsing's, she would've left it. She wanted to run back to them now, just for the safety of friends. That blood was getting to be a bit much for her.

Yet as she was starting to head back the way she came, she found her feet arcing their path towards the clearing, stepping over the magical barrier. She shivered again and felt something rising within her, around her, something powerful and unstoppable.

"Oh, yes." She whispered. "I can feel you here. Siren's call indeed."

She kept herself from bolting until she was out of the clearing, and then she sprinted through the forest. She tripped, fell to her knees, and found herself throwing up the deer's blood she had drunk earlier. Well, at least now she'd be so exhausted from hunger she could at least sleep through the day rather than tossing and turning. Sleep would make everything much, much nicer.

* * *

Relying on this principle, she didn't tell Van Helsing and Anna what she had heard until the next night. 

"They're resurrecting Chaos." She blurted over her breakfast and their dinner. Well, no one could accuse her of beating around the bush.

"What?" Van Helsing asked somewhat dumbly. They had taken to sleeping in the day too, unless there were werewolves to be had or a small nest they could catch sleeping, and he was still waking up.

"I thought Carl said they needed a key or something."

"Last night when I left I was following a trail of blood. Turns out it was a human sacrifice, and a vampire priest and priestess were there. The priestess said something about the fourth perimeter being set and everything being ready, and that Chaos would be resurrected on the sickle moon."

"Besides, it's not really a key. More like a vessel, a person." Carl piped up as his ghostly form appeared. "I did more research and that's what turned up." He clarified not long after.

"The sickle moon?" Van Helsing asked sharply. "You're certain?"

"Yes." She said.

"Where?" He pressed.

"Well, 'fourth perimeter' indicates that they're setting boundaries for something, probably to contain a great deal of magical energy. Presumably, Chaos is in Hell. If they're bringing her out- 'resurrect' her, so to speak -they don't want half the other baddies following them. So if what I found is the fourth perimeter, we just need to find the other three and our place should be in the center." Cathy explained.

"There'll be a path. It'll lead to a sickle-shaped clearing." Van Helsing blurted.

"Huh?"

"I had a dream."

"Let's hope yours doesn't kill you." She said with a sad, grim smile.

Van Helsing was about to explain it to her, but refrained. She didn't seem to be asking, and who was he to tamper with Fate? He had learned that the hard way. Telling her what was going to happen could change some vital thing. Looking over at Anna across their tiny, sheltered fire, he knew he didn't want that thing changed.

"Carl. Can you fly?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" The Friar's answer was another question, this one incredulous.

"Can you fly? Through the forest? To find the place I'm talking about?"

"I... erm... well... I_guess_ so...."

"Then we can find this place tonight. Find it and be ready when the sickle moon arrives. It'll be much faster than combing this whole forest ourselves." Van Helsing said tightly. Anna could see he was fighting the urge to bolt over to her and completely cover her with his body, staying like that until the moon began to wax again. She could feel the tension and worry and feet emanating off of him as easily as Cathy could smell it on the air.

"Well, I never was one for sitting around and researching anyway. I had my Watcher Boy for that." The vampiress sighed, dusting off her pants as she stood.

"Watcher Boy?" Anna asked curiously, hearing the fondness Cathy said those words with.

She shook her head, smiled that sad, grim smile again, and looked away.

* * *

"Here it is." Carl said with a flourish of his hand. "Your pathway." It had taken him the days leading up to the sickle moon to find the place, and now that he was here at last Gabriel stepped through the cloying trees like one in a dream... or a nightmare in his case.

"Let's not waste any time. Midnight's coming." He said.

"The witching hour." Cathy agreed. She reached behind herself and took off her cloak, arching backwards to stretch her back and then reaching down to touch her toes, slowly easing forward until her palms were on the ground.

Anna and Gabriel had a less formal ritual of preparing for battle. They twisted to different sides, stretched their arms, checked their weapons. Today was different, though. Today they made a point of avoiding each other's eyes.

In a consensus as silent as the forest around them, the foursome started to walk all at once. For the first few yards everything was fine, and then Carl was murmuring something about not being able to go any farther. His voice sounded like it was coming from miles away, and when the others turned to look for him he had disappeared. At that minute the magic washed over them, almost a physical tide that made the air suddenly stuff and hot, cutting off their ability to breathe. Slowly the wave receded and all they could hear was the garish sound of themselves gasping for breath.

As even that sound receded, Anna and Gabriel found themselves staring into each other's eyes. There were no words between them, just that glance and then one kiss beneath the not-so-romantic sickle moon. Then they couldn't look at each other again.

Gabriel was filled up with the weirdness of the moment, a feeling that went beyond de ja vu. Wasn't de ja vu recognizing something without knowing why? Well he recognized this place but he knew why, and yet it was still filled with that half-real dream quality. It set his mind reeling and his senses following. As in the nightmare he was painfully conscious of the unnatural silence of the forest, and as in the nightmare he was painfully conscious of the restlessness in the night, in the world, in himself. It wasn't at all surprising to him when he started to run.

At some point Anna and Cathy had peeled away from him, off the path and into the forest. It only made him run faster. Something about their disappearance wasn't right, it just wasn't.

The path he was pounding down began to curl, aligning with the sickle moon above. His stomach felt like that sickle had just cut into it or that something had punched him in the stomach as he remembered what happened next in the dream. He kept rounding the bend until it opening up into a clearing shaped just like the moon above. Anna had reached it before him, and now she was standing in the eclipse of two worlds, powerless, about to be sucked into the void.

And he couldn't even find the breath to scream.

* * *

Anna drifted away from Gabriel, but not too far away. She knew she couldn't look him in the eye again after their kiss. It had been too close to a good-bye. Even though she knew this, she couldn't be too far away from him, because she'd never forgive herself if he was attacked and she wasn't close enough to save him. Then it really would be good-bye.

Her feet seemed to be out of synch with her head, though, because while she was thinking these thoughts they were wandering slowly farther and farther from Gabriel, away from the faint path and into the forest. What happened next was a slow, creeping process really, but the realization of it was sudden: Anna lost control of her feet. It was not unlike the sensation of being led by Dracula across the dance floor. You were in your own body, and yet it was not your own. You knew that you weren't doing these things on your own, but you couldn't stop them from happening. The chilly rush that went over her was not unlike Dracula's glamour, not unlike the pull of his power or the sensation of his breath on her neck when he hissed. But as Anna felt the power now, she couldn't help but shiver.

Dracula, great and old and powerful as he was supposed to be, was nothing compared to this. This power, this hand that tugged at her invisible strings, was a hundred times older than he had been, and a hundred times more powerful. A hundred times more sensual and a hundred times more irresistible. A hundred times more frightening.

This old, sensual, frightening power just kept drawing her onward like a lamb being led to the slaughter. She was fascinated by the power, wanted to know it, wanted to see it. Part of her struggled wildly against it and the other part gave in. The sensible side said: _I just want to know my enemy._The not-so-sensible side had nothing to say. It could only gasp in wonderment and longing. Unfortunately, it was this part of her that was currently in possession of her body.

Onward she was drawn, until she saw white shapes flitting in and out around her.

"A human?"

"She is a Hunter....!"

"She is under _her_hold."

"_She_ has chosen one..."

Reverently, cold hands passed over her arms and back, trailed across her breast once or twice as they passed before her. Gently, like friends guiding a sleepwalker back to bed, they guided her forward towards a sickle shaped clearing. Then Anna looked skyward, feeling herself suddenly in the center of all that power. It throbbed here, a throb that made her want to groan at the unfulfilled longing for freedom she felt. Again she was reminded of Dracula, of the emptiness that had been at his core. But now she understood that this was the fountainhead of that emptiness, the epitome of loneliness. Everything that he was came from here.

She blinked owlishly, like she was seeing the sky for the first time. The moon was directly ahead, that sickle shaped moon. The gypsy princess realized for the first time that it was the same shape as the clearing she stood in. The second she realized this there was a blinding flash of light. For one instant before it stole her vision, the moon above was illuminated and she could see its darker side against the black sky. She heard hisses and screeches behind her but she herself did not scream. She didn't want to. She was fascinated by the light, because this was the power. It was a cold light and sent waves of cold down her spine. As she leaned in, she saw there was dark at the core of the light, just as she had seen the dark side of the moon for that brief instant, that side that was always hidden. Just like vampires masqueraded in human bodies and kept the dark hidden behind their blinding charm. Then the dark grew, and suddenly she realized what was happening.

Now she wanted to scream.

* * *

"What are you doing?" The Wavewriter smiled, her hand bouncing jauntily on her lap, watching the curled up figure on the floor before her.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" She giggled, answering a question with a question.

"I can't think of anything now!" The figure growled, turning those incredible, frightening, black-on-red eyes to the Wavewriter's ocean blue ones. "You're driving me to madness!"

"Oh, not so fun when someone's doing it to you?" But despite the teasing air she had, she knew better than to toy with her guest. "I have used these vampires to bring you closer to the surface of that dimension."

"I know, but I cannot get out!" There was anguish in that voice now. "You're holding me on the edge of a prison I can't break free of yet!"

"Precisely." The Wavewriter replied. "With you so close it will be all to easy for you to escape... in due time." Now black-on-red eyes met the ocean eyes of her companion, and understanding swelled between them.

"Oh, clever girl!" The goddess laughed. "Clever, clever girl! Oh, chaos we'll have yet. Chaos we will have yet."

* * *

Van Helsing hit the ground so hard he could swear he saw the flashes of his brain exploding from behind his eyes. The telltale white shape- a vampire in bat form -that he had seen in his dreams flew past him with no more sound than the whoosh of wings passing over. It landed behind him and held him down with those terrible claws while another kicked him in the gut, keeping him from fighting.

_That wasn't in the dream._

But there was something that, while he knew it was going to happen from said dream, was even more terrifying.  
Terror was hardly the word for it anymore; the nightmare had hardly compared with the stark, naked fear of actually seeing Anna there, caught in-between two worlds, about to get sucked into the black hole in the middle of that light.

He vaguely heard himself screaming her name over and over again while the dozens of vampires around them laughed and laughed in triumph. Then there was a blur, a small, dark shape silhouetted against the light. He watched helplessly as Cathy alluded the other vampires, shouting something in Latin that had them freezing in midair. Her form seemed to become distorted as she stepped into the humongous pull of the rift, seizing Anna by the shoulders. The light picked up the natural gold in her hair, making it seem as though her otherwise dark hair was streaked all through with starlight. There was that terrifying moment- the breath before the plunge into the sea -when he thought that her struggle was in vain... and then both she and Anna collapsed to the ground, away from the rift. There was another shout of strange words, and then it shuddered and began to seal itself.

Gabriel regained his senses, reaching for a pistol and putting it to the forehead of the shocked vampire above him and then pulling the trigger. He scarcely waited for the dust to kiss his face before he shot the one who had kicked him in the chest, and then he was on his feet, rushing to Anna's side as Cathy dragged her away from the fading light.

The other vampires around them were howling and shrieking angrily as they watched the portal closed, but as it did, they disappeared as if they had never been. Van Helsing was reminded oddly a time in Budapest when he had gone to see the Wavewriter in Count Dracula's old summer palace. One moment the strange being had been there talking to him and the next minute it was gone, the dust on the floor not even showing a trace of his passage. But the memory faded there and he rushed to Anna's side.

"Anna...." He whispered, cradling her.

She couldn't even say his name. All she could do was shake and hold him and realize how close she had come to becoming her enemy's pawn, just as she once had with Dracula. That power terrified her now, terrified her in a way that her family's nemesis never could have.

Cathy stood by, breathless from her sprint and the two spells she had thrown out. The instantaneous ones were always a bitch to you afterwards. She felt like shriveling up and dying.

But she knew it was not just the spells. That only made her shiver harder.

"Thank you." Gabriel whispered, as breathless as she was, Anna still clutched to his chest. "Thank you so much." Cathy shrugged and smiled goofily.

"Don't mention it." She let them hold each other and kiss on the forest floor for a minute longer before she began to get antsy.

_Why so afraid? Isn't the danger gone, Cathy?_ That mocking voice inside seemed much louder now, unusually so. But then, Cathy wasn't surprised by this.

"Um, we might want to get going." She stuttered. "We need to get back to the manor or a town or something before the sun comes up. This vampire prefers herself rare, not well done."

"You're right." Gabriel said, heaving himself to his feet.

Together, the three of them headed back into the dark, ignoring the sphinx-like smile of the moon above them.

* * *

After seeing Anna safely in bed, Gabriel went looking for Cathy. His body already felt as numb and slow as though it were already asleep, but his mind wouldn't shut off until he thanked her at least a thousand more times. She had saved the woman he loved, his hope. She had been a good friend to him. And he was still fascinated by that secret longing inside, that hidden pain.

His intuition led him to the roof and it did not disappoint him. Cathy was sitting there calmly, probably waiting for the dawn to head back inside. He knew she was aware of him and didn't bother saying anything before sitting next to him.

"Isn't this cold for you?" She asked.

"Not really." He replied. "You?"

"Nope." She shook her head, one hand reaching up to comb some of her hair back and then let it fall in her face.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did. You saved Anna." He said without any further preamble.

"I told you not to mention it." Cathy laughed lightly, looking out towards the horizon.

"Well I felt I had to. I put a lot of trust on you, Cathy, a lot of trust in what seemed to be thin air. I didn't know you, I didn't know where you were from, and you did lie to us once- I_know_ you were just hiding it but there's little difference." Gabriel cut her off. "Anyway... It just makes me very happy to see that trust fulfilled."

"Well, you're welcome." She said a bit stiffly. "I'm used to saving friends... what is it with them and getting in trouble, anyways? It sure makes my job much easier being a vampire. It was so hard to keep up with all of them when I wasn't, but now that I am one I'm much more free. I can take more risks to take care of them. It feels right to be using it that way."

That caused Van Helsing to look at her more closely, like he was seeing her for the first time. In truth he was realizing for the first time who she was and part of why he was fascinated with her: when he had been bitten by a werewolf he had despaired, couldn't wait to be rid of it. He was disgusted with his curse. But Cathy had taken her curse and embraced it, making it her own. Instead of wallowing in misery and guilt at everything she had lost, she had rejoiced at everything she had gained and everything she could do now.

"Dawn's coming." Cathy noted absently. "I should be going to sleep now... long night." She yawned and stretched, arching her back as the yawn turned a little deeper; she had explained how your vocal chords chained to allow deeper vocalizations when you became a vampire, and the capability always seemed to pop up when you yawned. He couldn't help but smile at the sight, thinking to himself that she would certainly be a different person if she weren't a vampire.

"Good night, Cathy. I owe you one. I owe you my life." He said, watching her head for the skylight they had both used.

"Good night Gabriel." Was all she called over her shoulder before disappearing from his sight.

* * *

Cathy was shaking when she headed for her room. Wrapping her arms around herself didn't help, either.

"Not now. Not here. Get out. Leave me alone." She hissed. She could already feel herself bruising from the strength of her own embrace as she rushed inside and sat on the bed.

There was no response, but the power grew.

"Get _out_! I don't_want_ you! I don't care if you're a part of me, I will fight you! You know I will! I always have! I always will!" She was thankful her words were so strangled, or they might've come out as a shout.

The power just kept growing, growing, growing, swelling, leaving her to crumple backwards onto the bed, lying with her arms spread out like some helpless offering, sweating under the duress of her battle.

"Get out..." She whimpered weakly. "Get out..." And just like that, the power receded. The wave had never even pounded on the shore. It just skipped that stage and backed off.

The shaking had returned as Cathy sat up, fumbling inside her shirt for the chain. Her fingers adamantly refused to do the task though, and she ended up practically tearing the garment over her head so she could grab the pendant herself. She fingered the faceted surface of its diamond, twisted it so that the blood within the hollow gem moved listlessly around within it. She fingered the sharp, scalloped iron edge, and started when she felt it prick her finger and saw the solitary drop of blood slide down her finger.

The iron edges formed spikes, clamping hard onto her chest. Her breath was sucked in by way of a sickly gas. She could almost hear her death rattle in it as the pendant bound itself to her chest. When she looked up slowly, her gold eyes were dilated with the fear of knowing what she had done. She could find only one thing to say to voice it:

"Oh shit."

* * *

A/N-- Ooh, what has got Cathy so terrified? Well, she ain't talking! Sorry there wasn't more action, it came out differently than I thought. And sorry for the lack of updates!!! Life can be such a bothersome creature. The next chapter we reach a climax and our plot begins in earnest, so review! 


	11. Chapter 10: Betrayed With a Kiss

Disclaimer- I own nothing of the movie_Van Helsing_and I am seeking no profit. All I own is the plot and any OC's... I swear, I'm trying really hard not to kill them this time! I also do not own any _Phantom of the Opera_ quotes that slip out of my mouth... 

A/N- And it begins... I hope you enjoy this chapter, I've been looking forward to writing it!

M&M's to my reviewers:  
**Hypercaz**- Well, not quite! At least, we hope not.  
**The Princess Anna Valerious**- Long? I thought that one was short. It would've been longer, but I worked as fast as I could just for you... satisfied?  
**Anthem82**- I'm really glad you enjoy Cathy so much! She's my baby, I really enjoy her as a character too.  
**Irish Anor**- We all have those days of not wanting to login, all is forgiven!  
You know, I've heard of those books but never read them, so I wouldn't know if this was similar!  
NO! NO PHANTOM! I'LL START SINGING TOO! -clamping hands over mouth lest she sing- I'm trying to break myself of the habit... I'm always walking around singing it and I get some funny looks! It's a lovely, wonderful, amazing musical, but it gets rather scary when it takes over your life as it has taken over mine!  
Now you get to find out what Cathy sees! Sort of.  
**kydasam**- Well, that was meant to make you laugh! I am generally a humorous person. The fun of my friends is always had at my more-than-willing expense.  
I am so happy you enjoy Cathy so much! That was a fun chapter for me to write, very eerie. I had expected more action, but I like the way it came out all the same. I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**Ragweed**- And I've returned too! -joins in dancing-

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Ten:  
Betrayed With a Kiss 

When Cathy came downstairs the next evening, her face was adorned with a calm, assured smile and her eyes filled with a devilish twinkle that drew the attention of the other two Hunters instantaneously.

"Oh no. I may not have known you long, but I know that smile means you have something up your sleeve." Van Helsing said with a warm smile of his own.

"What makes you think I'm planning something?" Cathy laughed lightly, cracking her neck to both sides. It was a gesture that startled Anna and Van Helsing, who had never seen her do anything like that before. "It's just that there's this new nest that popped up."

"How do you know this and why does that make you happy?" Anna said slowly, suspiciously. Normally Cathy gave them an earful of whining when they dragged her out of bed and plunked her on a horse. She only perked up at the thought of bloodshed, and that usually wasn't until they actually started fighting.

"Oh, it's just that I went out and fed on some deer and_man_ am I charged!" She beamed wickedly, rolling her arms forward in their sockets backwards a few times and then forwards.

"When did you feed? You looked exhausted last night." Van Helsing frowned.

"Oh, I got up early and went out a little before dusk. I'm used to walking around in daylight." Cathy shrugged, rolling her shoulders again. Van Helsing was starting to wonder if she had hurt her joints or something similar when she had gone hunting, but he let it slide.

"Another nest you say?" He sighed, eating the last bite of the eggs Anna had cooked for him.

Of course, with the eggs, bacon and toast he was also served a severe lecture on Anna's thoughts of chauvinistic men as well as a detailed description of what she thought she be done with them. Needless to say, he was considering hiring cook along with Anita instead of learning to cook himself. Married life with Anna was beginning to sound more dangerous than the bachelor life of a Vampire Hunter... but he had never been one to back down from a challenge. This one happened to have the perk of being gorgeous and witty as well as tough.

"Yup. Another nest."

"Do we have to go in now?" Anna asked with a sigh similar to Van Helsing's.

"Jeez, you sound like kids on the first day of school after a long break. Yes, now is the opportune moment. They've just settled in here, so we need to get rid of them before they start establishing territory and gathering up strays as followers. Nip it in the bud." Her fingers made scissoring motions to accompany this statement.

"Very well." Van Helsing sighed. "If it simply won't wait one more night..."

"No." Cathy said gravely. "It won't."

* * *

"You are not taking us all the way to the mountains," Anna said firmly. "Not in one day. How can you not be exhausted after last night?" 

"I told you, I went out and fed!" Cathy almost snapped at the princess.

"It never affected you this way before."

"Well, sometimes it's different! I dunno, maybe the deer had hormonal issues or it had just gotten high or drunk or something, but right now I just can't stop! We have to get to that nest and kill them. At least help me be productive with my energy." She pleaded.

Anna pursed her lips, looking at the Carpathian Mountains in the distance. Van Helsing leaned against the door of the building where Cathy had wanted them to hire a coach.

"We'll take it more slowly. A day." Cathy sounded defeated as she offered the suggestion. When she was set on something, she hated to compromise. "You can sleep on the coach." Anna, however, didn't seem to be paying any mind to the vampiress at all.

"Those mountains..." She whispered as though she was just seeing them.

"Yes, _moooouunnnnttaaiiinnnnssss_. Giant rocks. Lots of caves. Good for hiding in."

"What do you see?" Van Helsing spoke with none of Cathy's dripping sarcasm. The day was one of those deceptive ones where the sky was entirely clouded over with grey but light was at its most piercing level. He had to squint as he came to stand next to his fiance.

"Those are the same mountains you led me to a year ago." She turned to look at him now. "When you were going after the Wavewriter." Van Helsing frowned and looked back out over the tiny town, which was more of a place for traveling coaches to stop.

"There are lots of things in those mountains."

"Still." Anna whispered, unable to resist glancing at Cathy out of the corner of her eye.

The vampire stared back at her, gold eyes suddenly hard as steel. She was daring her to challenge what she was saying about the clan up there.

"She saved you. How could you doubt her?" Van Helsing's whisper felt superfluous to him. The woman he was talking about was standing about five feet from him and had supernatural hearing. No matter how low they pitched their voice she would hear. The only way they could have a private conversation short of walking away from her was by telepathy, and even then he wasn't so sure she couldn't tap into their minds. Cathy did have a way of pulling tricks out of her hat.

"I don't know. Maybe I just don't feel like traveling." She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "Last night..." She trailed off and shivered again; Gabriel wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest, dropping a kiss on the crown of her head and then resting his cheek there. When his beloved gypsy princess spoke again, her voice was distinctly small. "I felt something. Something terrifying. Something I don't ever want to be under the power of again." Gabriel bent down so that they were nearly cheek to cheek and whispered in her ear:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." 1 He clasped her hand in one of his and then held them out. Her engagement ring and his claddagh glinted in the piercing light. "Trust, friendship and love. You said that this ring is the symbol of your trust in me, and yours is the symbol of my love for you. If I love you and trust Cathy and you say you trust me, how can you not trust her too?" He kissed her cheek lingeringly.

"You're right." Anna smiled faintly, closing her eyes. "I was the one telling you to trust that I could take care of myself, and you were right that I needed Cathy to save me this one time. I guess I'll just have to trust both of you again." With that, she turned around and planted a kiss on his mouth.

When they broke away her eyes went immediately to Cathy. At some point during their quiet talk she had averted her eyes and then cast her head down completely so that her hair cascaded in front of her face. There was more than just simple courtesy behind the action.

"We'll take the coach. Give us a day of rest and we'll be ready for anything you want." Anna said firmly, still holding one of Gabriel's hands. Cathy looked up at the sound of her voice.

"Alright. Just one day." Then she looked away again, and seemed to be talking to herself. "Just one day won't kill me."

* * *

Anna truly, truly, truly despised these mountains. 

She had even considered giving them their own name. They seemed an entirely separate entity from the Carpathians. Magic was abound here, and for her mistrust. The way Gabriel had led her this way and that through the mountains in search of the Wavewriter was the same way Cathy was leading them. Regardless of what she had said to Van Helsing, she still didn't like this.

"Where is this clan?" Anna asked, out of breath. They had paused in a small clearing with several trees. It was one of many that lined a ridge they had been hiking along.

"Not far from here. Just around the bend, in a cave." Cathy looked around, keen gold eyes searching. She had only been out of breath for a minute or two; she seemed perfectly refreshed now. "You two should rest here. I'll scout ahead a little." She turned and started to leave, but as she did, she tripped and almost fell. Normally she might've given them a rant to laugh about for minutes, but instead her whole body tensed. Her hands opened and closed convulsively and to Van Helsing it suddenly seemed like she might cry.

"What, am I drunk or something?" She choked out before storming away. Anna and Van Helsing shared a glance and knew that she had not been talking to them.

"I'll be right back." Gabriel said moments later, giving Cathy enough room to control herself before following. There was no need for him to have his head lopped off by an irrational- not to mention irate -vampire before he got on to the real challenge.

* * *

Cathy hadn't gone that far, just to a clearing far enough away so that if she cried she would not be heard. Just far enough away so that she wouldn't cause any harm. 

Any unintentional harm, that is. There are harms that can be caused from far away too, like a siren singing a sailor to his doom.

Van Helsing watched her start as he stepped on a branch. She had probably sensed him coming; he was downwind, and if you looked through the trees at the right angle you could see all the way back to the place where Anna was watching.

"Careless." She snorted with weak acid, hearing him.

"Intentional. No need to sneak up on you." Gabriel corrected, walking to stand beside her. She was sitting on a rock, her back to him. Directly ahead of them was a cliff, around which ran a narrow shelf he presumed they'd be using to cross. It led to an opening in the mountain. "Is that the cave?" She just nodded. He sat beside her and waited a minute before asking his next question. "So, what was that about being drunk?" At first Cathy shook her head viciously, vehemently, but it slowed as Van Helsing said nothing. He waited for her to come to him. She uttered two words when she did.

"Watcher Boy." The two words were silly ones, but like the nonsensical smile of a Cheshire cat it was curved and could cut. That probably made it more like a scythe. There was a deep, deep, deep pain in those words, bone-deep, soul-deep. A pain that had crossed centuries with her and had not faded.

"Adrian Berkley, I suppose I should say. He was... a friend. A great friend. A bit goofy. Loved to play pinball, and he was damn good at it too. Sometimes he was a bit clueless, but at the same time he was one of the smartest ones of us. He and Carl would have interesting conversations. We argued constantly. He and I loved getting drunk together..."

"I see." Gabriel said quietly, nodding.

He hadn't intended to go further than that; he'd intended just to sit there beside her, wait until she was ready to call Anna to them and go fight another battle. Another battle that probably brought back memories of a place over a century removed from them, a place that didn't exist yet. People whom she had spent years of her life fighting next to, living and dying with them. He didn't want to press into those wounds, not when they were already weighing on her. That was that sorrow that stole over her when no one was looking: a deep yearning for home, and for friends.

"You always hear about the fatalities of war. The ones who didn't come home. But what of we who have to live with our scars? What of those who are left behind? Why are we forgotten? All of us live and fight in anonymity on the same battlefield. Only when we die are our sacrifices recognized and applauded. Do we have to die to be noticed and thanked?" She turned to him, her face hidden mostly by a trick of the light and the fall of her hair. But there was a desperation in her voice, an emptiness that was all too clear. She was tired of being alone, cursed with being the one who could live through all those physical trials with nothing but scars that she would bear through eternity. Because that was the other side of the coin, the price she paid to be a vampire. "Have you ever felt like that before?" She asked timidly.

"Always." Gabriel replied, not meeting her eyes when he said it.

"I've said too much." Cathy said abruptly, standing and making to walk off.

"There's nothing wrong with what you've said." Gabriel replied, standing and catching her arm. "None of us can make it alone in this. We all need help once in a while."

"No, not me. I have to be able to stand alone. If I can't, then there'll come a day when I will have finally lost everyone and I will be alone and then I'll die too. I have to survive for those who have already been lost. I_have_ to." Her words got faster and faster, more and more passionate.

"Let me help you." Gabriel said, his voice slow and firm.

Looking down into her face, he watched a change go over it. She looked briefly away, almost coy, and then back at him. There was something darker in those gold eyes than before, something more primal. It was something those gold eyes had hinted at before, the darkness inside. Cathy had an excellent hold on her demon, but no vampire would ever be able to completely control it. And there it was, staring up at him, the serpent offering the apple.

He felt a change coming over himself. He felt himself falling into those gold eyes, into that dark place of old instincts and bestial urges. Before he knew it her hands were on his neck, crushing him to her, their lips pressed together with brutal force. He was holding her as hard as she held him, two creatures of the darkness locked together.

It was a rough kiss, almost painful, with nothing tender in it. But to Anna, watching from the clearing, it didn't make a difference.

* * *

Gabriel left Cathy in the clearing at her command, going to get Anna instead of calling her over.

The gypsy princess was sitting on a log, looking out over Transylvania. If she knew Gabriel was there, she gave no sign.

"Anna, we're ready to go." His tongue stumbled over the words. His world was reeling; he felt lost and dazed. Everything became suddenly, painfully clear when he locked eyes with his fiancee.

"I understand." Anna said, her eyes as soft and sad as her voice. She suddenly seemed like an angel of mercy, granting him pardon from above. "You are so much alike. You are both called murderers and monsters, and yet you spend every day of your life fighting evil. You want to help her..." Here, at last, there was a very human moment of hesitation. She looked down but didn't cry, always the strong one. When she looked back up, the ring was off her finger and into his hand. "Far be it from me to stop you." It was far from Gabriel to stop her as she walked away. With that angel of mercy light flew suddenly from his world. He had fought for her, crossed time for her, spent every night crying for her. She had been added to his nightmares, and then to his dreams, and now she was gone.

In the absence of light, there is always enough darkness to take its place. He felt something falling over him again, making him turn around and meet Cathy's eyes. He was drawn back to that primal darkness, away from the light. He followed her without question.

She led him into the cave and there, in that second darkness that was nothing to theirs, they found a staircase. He moved feebly to take her hand when he almost slipped and at first she started and glared at him, eyes shining in the dark, then her face relaxed and she allowed him to hold it.

She released his hand when they reached the mountaintop and pulled away slightly. Van Helsing was left standing there, looking at her. That old sadness stole over her, not hidden now, as she walked around to stand on the other side of him. His back was now to a circle of trees, somewhat imperfect but a circle nonetheless. That sadness was in her eyes, in her touch, as she reached up to brush some hair away, her cool hand resting lightly on his cheek. It was the sadness of a lost mate in her eyes, that sadness that made him wrap his arms around her and kiss her again. This time it was almost soft, almost tender.  
Cathy was the first to pull away- he knew she would be. Rome wasn't built in a day. That sadness would be there for a long time- maybe forever.

"God, I can't do this." She whispered hoarsely, one hand resting on his chest.

The breath was knocked out of Van Helsing with the forced of her push. His back hit a tree and then he whirled around it, falling on his face in the snow. The enchantment was broken when he looked up; he knew what had been done. He knew where he was.

Strong arms reached out to grab him and there was sudden heat at his back. He struggled wildly but couldn't break free, turning to see the portal behind him.

_The Wavewriter's door is a doorway to Hell._ Carl had said once.

Van Helsing went down fighting, but the slender woman with skin white as foam, eyes the color of the sea and golden hair with frothy curls dragged him easily with her, winking once at Cathy before she disappeared.

"Hm. Maybe I can." Cathy said with a soft, wicked smile.

The second that smile was gone she crumpled, hacking coughs escaping her throat. She looked around and couldn't remember where she was.

"No..." She whispered with the first tears, looking down at her chest and seeing the pendant clamped down there. She had bled on that pendant... "No... No... No..." She whispered it again and again until it was a scream. The vampiress wrenched herself away from that place, from the place where she had delivered her friend into Hell.

Her mind went blank with rage and fear as she entered the cave with its stairs. She almost fell down the last few. She wanted to crumple to the ground again when she reached their end, but she wouldn't let herself. She was going to go down standing.  
With one hard jerk, she pulled the pendant out from her skin and ignored the neat circle of holes it had made. Slowly, she raised her pendant so that it dangled before her, glinting in the light that was as feeble as all her resistance. She smiled at it, equal parts hateful and despairing. They were almost like old friends by now. But this old friend got other friends killed.

_Only a few more tears_, she promised herself, her head tipped back. _Just cry a little more. Shhh, it'll all be alright soon._

"I think I'm ready to let go now." She whispered to the frigid air- although that wasn't why she was shaking -to a voice inside only she could hear.

Her eyes slid closed as she closed her hands hard around the sharps spikes of the pendant and felt the blood run thick through her clenched fingers. With one more hard jerk- _just one more, it's almost all over now_ -the chain snapped. The pendant slid out of her slick grasp to land on the ground.

With the impact her eyes snapped open and all the gold seemed to flee in rays of frightened light as black consumed them, rendering her blind. The veins in her eyes throbbed and she cried out from the pain, but it was too late to turn back now, too far past the point of no return. All at once, red began to flood the whites of her eyes and it overflowed, spilling out in tears of blood. When at last she opened her eyes, Cathy could see again... through eyes of black-on-red. Without warning, she exploded into bits of blood and skin. But before the pieces could hit the ground, they swirled around and, like a video on rewind, formed Cathy's body again. But this time, the hair was pure, rich ebony. The whites of her eyes were the deepest blood red, and instead of having a pupil and an iris, there was only a black circle.

Chaos's smile was calm and assured; a devilish twinkle lit up her eyes. She cracked her neck both ways, unfazed by her nakedness, and then spoke:

"Good to finally get out..."

* * *

A/N- That chapter reminds me of Bloodbath, a chapter in RIT... don't ask me why... Oh, and Adrian Berkley is not my character. He belongs to a dear friend and- in case anyone hadn't guessed -was Cathy's love interest on the RPG. Of course, so much as mention the word romance near them and they'd practically attack you.  
So, let me know what you think... I can't say when the next update will be, but reviews are always a nice impetus.  
1 Yes, I am aware of the fact that this quote had not yet been said in 1889. I don't care! Poetic license! 


	12. Chapter 11: Lie to Me

A/N- Glad to see everyone enjoyed that chapter! 

More M&M's this time around, because Cathy isn't here to eat them all:  
**The Princess Anna Valerious**- Yes, it was somewhat of a rollercoaster.  
Believe me, Cathy didn't like the kiss as much. I believe she was still brushing her teeth when the chapter ended and she disappeared.  
**HyperCaz**- Long time no see!  
I like that quote about poetic license... I shall ponder it at school today!  
**HughJackmanFan**- I'm glad you enjoyed the first couple chapters... they were fun to write!  
**kydasam**- Yea, it's hard for things to work out well when Cathy is involved! Aren't you going to miss her helping with the review responses..?

This is dedicated to Katze- here's to hoping we get into camp! And to Anna, who promised to let me off the hook on something if I wrote this... so thank her for the update.

I do believe the title of this chapter is taken from an Evanescence song.

* * *

Chapter 11:  
Lie to Me 

Carl was nervous. No, he was petrified. No, he was a pile of utterly terrified goo masquerading as a human. Or, masquerading as a ghost who was also masquerading as a human.

Oh, hell.

You see, Carl had been a bad Friar. He hadn't been laying any barmaids lately. He had been cursing a lot, but that was beside the point. Actually, it was connected to the point.

Carl had been wrong.

He had told Anna and Van Helsing that a key was needed for Chaos to escape her prison. That implied something physical. They hadn't know that prison and key were walking around in front of them the whole time in the form of a spunky, sarcastic, short, somewhat insane vampire named Cathy.

And now because he had told them that, he got to tell Anna Valerious exactly where her fiance was at the moment.

He found Anna in a tavern, alone. It was one of those lonely taverns, where all of the patrons have gone home early but one person has been left alone. The bartender doesn't speak to them, but, then, they don't want the words. They have a reason to drink and money to pay and that's all that matters.

He didn't want to go alarming innocent bartenders, so Carl knocked over Anna's drink instead. She swore and tried to mop it up, then froze when she heard a familiar voice in her ear.

"Come outside." She paid for the drink, and obeyed the voice. Carl revealed himself in the moonlight.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. She sounded tired. Carl wanted her to be irritated. He wanted _Anna_, who would still threaten him in any number of ways when he got too annoying, who would insult him until the cows came home.

"I have news." He said, his voice trembling. Damn, he hadn't wanted it to tremble.

Something passed over Anna's face. Like a cloud over the moon, only much faster. There was something in her eyes now, the look of a warrior who knows they are going to die but still asks if there's hope.

"Lie to me, Carl." She whispered. Now she was a child, wanting to know that the monsters under the bed weren't real. "Tell me Gabriel is fine." Carl shook his head no, biting his incorporeal lip. He could still feel the tears though. God, he was dead, and he could still feel.

Oh, hell.

* * *

The library in the Valerious manor felt very empty without Gabriel and, strangely, Cathy in it. Last time Carl had sat them down to talk about Chaos, they had all been there. Now it was just he and Anna. 

"I found an account that clarifies the part of the legend that wasn't clear before." He began. "About how Chaos could get free. A prophecy was made by her followers that, millennia after her demise, an heir would be born and Chaos would come again. The heir would be female. Her birthday would be November 25 and she would be named after the saint of that day: Catherine, the martyr saint. She would have the gold eyes that Chaos once had. Once she lost her soul, she would be doomed never to regain it. She and Chaos would be of one body, but, as a countering prophecy said, of warring natures.

"Catherine would not be a zealot, not be a follower of Chaos's cause. She would fight her every step of the way. She would hold in her hands the power to damn the world and the power to save it... but only in death. She and Chaos would never be parted. Kill one, destroy the other. This is the balance that must be struck. This is the price that must be paid." After a moment, Anna spoke.

"So all this time Cathy had Chaos inside of her." Carl nodded.

"That was why the vampire she killed said he would rather have no one else kill her. That's probably why that man in the tavern claimed Cathy killed his brother too. Chaos can take over Cathy's mind if she lets her guard down or is in trauma of some sort, physical or mental. She's probably been doing that frequently now, gathering her followers and laying plans under the guise of someone innocent. However, the ultimate power lies in Cathy's hands.

"Unless through magical aid, Chaos cannot slip Cathy's skin and assume her own form unless Cathy surrenders herself completely. Then she will be the voice whispering in Chaos's head, trying to control her body. It's unlikely that Cathy could ever go back to her own form again after succumbing to Chaos entirely, though."

"And that's what has happened." Anna sighed. "Chaos thought Gabriel could stand in her way, so she sent him into Hell. To stop me from protecting him, she sent me away. That was Chaos kissing Gabriel, not Cathy." She closed her eyes but didn't hang her head. She would never hang her head. "I've been a fool."

"We're up against a goddess." Carl said kindly. "It's hard not to feel that way."

"And she's doubly immortal!" Anna cursed, suddenly on her feet. "Not only is she a goddess, if we tried to kill her we'd be killing her before she was born!" She was remembering the principle Carl had come up with when he and Gabriel went back in time to stop Dracula a year ago.

"For a being like Chaos, it might not be true." Carl said.

"What do you mean?"

"Deities are timeless beings. They exist in past, present and future. Therefore, we wouldn't be killing her before she was born, because there_is_ no before." Carl said calmly, logically. Logic is the murderer of hope. "She has always existed, and always will."

"Not if I have something to say about it." Anna left the library and left Carl to scuttle to catch up.

"We're taking as many weapons as we can carry, as many books as we can carry. We're going to find her. We're going to find out how to kill her. We're going to do it."

"What about Gabriel?" _What about the wedding? _Carl almost asked. Anna could see the words in his eyes when she turned to him.

"I will see him again." Anna whispered. She said the words like all words are meant to be said: with meaning, with passion. They weren't idle words, they were words she believed in totally and completely. They both believed them, because they'd both been there.

They packed all the weapons and books they could carry. They set off. They were going to find Chaos. They were going to find a way to kill her. They were going to do it.

Part of Carl thought that was a lie. Part of him wished that he_could_ lie to Anna.

* * *

Hell was decidedly hotter than Gabriel had imagined. It was actually rather cool, rather like being in a dungeon. It looked like a dungeon too. 

The room was a perfect rectangle, and smelled faintly of jasmine and oil. There was a pool with water lilies floating in it before the steps leading to the dais. On the dais itself there was a chaise lounge of red brocade._She_ was lounging there,_she_ of the gold hair and sea-blue eyes. He was chained to the side of her lounge, dressed in what looked like the clothing of an Egyptian slave._She_ in her Egyptian robes kept smiling at him, like she was wondering what he looked like without what little he had on at the moment.

When the door at the far end of the room Gabriel looked up. He felt like he had just woken up from a very long nap, and had woken up in that way that makes you feel like you don't know when you stopped sleeping, but suddenly you're not anymore. He associated it with the way you woke up from a nightmare.

The problem was that he was still in it.

At the other end of the room another woman was standing. The form had something of a vague familiarity; small but limber, compact but with muscles that allowed her to flow across the floor towards them. The face was Cathy's face, except for the fangs poking out from ruby red lips; she didn't wear makeup and she didn't let her fangs show.

Then again, that wasn't Cathy.

"Greetings." Chaos said with a mocking bow. "How do you like my new costume?" She grinned, waving her arm down the length of her body. She was wearing a bodice of stiff black material with red showing through, a stark contrast to the white skin of her breasts and stomach. A skirt swirled around her as she walked.

"It is so old, so classic." The Wavewriter smiled.

"As is yours." Chaos said with another bow. The Wavewriter giggled and twisted on the chaise lounge, her bare foot coming very close to Gabriel's face. He resisted the urge to spit on it. She flipped around and moved to play with his hair as Chaos spoke again. "I like your new pet, too. Have you kissed him yet? You should try it some time. He's quite good." She laughed. Gabriel snarled at her as much as he was able.

The Wavewriter wrenched his head back with one swift tug to his hair, holding his head so far back it touched his shoulders.

"Well, I see you have a handle on things." Chaos smirked. "Keep him here, do what you like. I just came to make sure he was contained."

"Oh?" The Wavewriter asked with a flirtatious air. "Not for me?"

Chaos laughed. "Soon enough we will live together, all in one dimension. The world is our Troy, and I will be our Trojan horse. I will bring it down from within."

"How?" The Wavewriter asked eagerly, rolling over onto her stomach and watching the other goddess.

"That's the delicious part. I'm going to go find out now. I have to gather some associates, and then we're going tofind the most _perfect_ way."She blew a kiss to Gabriel on her way out. "Cathy sends her regards." For a fleeting moment, Gabriel through he saw a grey-blue form just behind the retreating goddess. She was crouched in shame, hair that was streaked with lighter grey falling in front of her face. When she looked up and met his eyes, they were a startling gold.

_Forgive me_. She mouthed before she disappeared.

Gabriel began to wonder if the hell he was about to go through would be nothing compared to hers.

"Are you lonely, Van Helsing?" The Wavewriter asked. "Would you like to play?" Then again, he wasn't so sure.

* * *

A/N- I know it was short, but it was a filler chapter. Next one should be longer, though I shan't deign to say when it'll be done. Review, _bitte_! 


	13. Chapter 12: The Poison Glen

A/N-- Hello once more! We get to meet all of our villains today... enjoy! 

M&M's to reviewers:  
**The Princess Anna Valerious**- Are you happy now:-P Here's your chapter, chica!  
**Anthem82**- I hope you think this chapter is just as cool!  
**Irish Anor**- Yes, mucho Gabriel angst coming! Just not this chapter, I don't think.  
**HyperCaz**- EXPLOSIONS! Ohh yes, action is fun!

The title of this chapter is taken from a song by Clannad.

* * *

Chapter 12:  
The Poison Glen 

"How _does_ one destroy the world?" Chaos asked herself aloud.

Several minions looked up, but no one answered. They recognized rhetoric when they heard it. After all, she was a goddess- how could they dare to venture an opinion, asked or not? To do so would be to imply that they knew better than she, their mother.

"One does not do it alone." The goddess continued, sliding off of her dais with a rustle of silk, revealing a long line of white thigh as her dress pulled up. Those closest to her immediately averted their eyes. "One needs help."

"That is why we are here." One brave male ventured.

Chaos turned to him and smirked, letting out a low laugh.

"You are my soldiers. A drop in the ocean of my army. What I need are lieutenants who can act on my behalf. After all, I'll be very busy." She paused; the whole room held its breath. "And I know just who to appoint. It's just a matter of getting them here..."

"Where are they? Perhaps one of us can fetch them."

Now her black-on-red eyes fell to the priest who had seen her vessel at the sight of the 'third marker.'

"They are nearly two hundred years in the future." She replied almost disdainfully, almost challenging. "I know how to bring them here. I know I have the power."

"Let me prove myself, my lady." The vampire-priest said with a swift, low bow. "I am sure I can accomplish it."

"What is your name?" Chaos asked, pretending to be intrigued.

"Ethan."

"Your name will be music to my ears if you can indeed accomplish this." She said in a low purr, her lips so close to his ear it made Ethan shiver.

She had teleported to his side, but she took her time in walking away so that the silk of her dress brushed across him, her bare arm touching his. He followed his goddess in a daze as she led him out of the room. The others bowed as she left, then went about their tasks. They would be the army. It was just a matter of waiting until they found out who their lieutenants were.

* * *

"Do we even know where we're beginning?" 

Anna started a little at Carl's intrusion, then relaxed.

"No. I figured we'd ask around and see if anyone knew where there'd been an unusual amount of vampires, or anything unusual at all." The gypsy princess clenched her teeth around a sigh. "My people have been beaten so long they just curl up and let themselves be beaten now. They try _not_ to notice anything that's unusual for fear of getting involved. When this is all over, I'm going to train them. Not all of them, but at least one or two everywhere, so that they won't have to be afraid anymore. Gabriel and I can't protect the entire country."

"Especially not with children running about." The ghostly friar even dared to add. He knew his heart would be thumping if he was corporeal. Anna was clutching to a very thin line of hope, slimmer than the moonbeams he composed himself of. If she clutched too hard, it would snap. He didn't want that to be his fault.

She merely smiled tightly and nodded, pushing back her hair from her forehead. "There have been no leads."

"Then we'll just have to find them." Carl supplied.

"How?"

"On one of his missions shortly after our first disaster here in Transylvania, Van Helsing and I were after someone who could change themselves into the shape of any creature by absorbing their essences. Unfortunately, having that many 'souls' in one body drove him mad and to murdering. He was still very clever though, nearly impossible to find. So we had to go into the one place where he was consistent: a bar in Wuppertal, a small German village. Van Helsing posed as the man we were after, saying he had found a way to transform into any human as well. He spent an entire night in there, carefully grilling every regular member to find out where the man's den was. We caught him the very next day."

"You're saying that you want me to pose as a vampire and find... a place where they might be." Anna asked, watching the Carl out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes. And your job won't even be as hard as Van Helsing's was... he had to interrogate the regulars in such a way that they wouldn't _know_ they were being interrogated, and he was posing as someone they already knew. You, however, will get to create your own identity without having to worry about discovery. Plus, the coming of their goddess is likely to be the talk of the vampire world. With any luck, you won't even have to press to discover where she is."

"Who said we had any luck left?" Anna laughed a broken laugh, one that Carl felt sure would cut him if he were real. "But I'll do it"  
The Friar took a steadying breath before he continued.

"Anna, I've been trying to locate Van Helsing. No one in any of the other dimensions seems to know, but-"

"I don't want to hear it, Carl." She cut him off. "Right now I have to think about saving this world."

"But can you do it alone?"

"You'd better hope I can." Anna replied grimly.

Carl could almost hear her lifeline, her love, straining. He hoped desperately it wasn't about to snap. The truth was that they were very much alone, and very much in over their heads. But Anna was wrong: they did have quite a store of good luck yet. It just happened to have gone bad at some point. At that particular point, Carl was afraid it had become quite rotten.

* * *

The vampire bar was noisy, so noisy the string quartet could barely be heard. Anna was shocked that there was even a string quartet _there_. 

_I'm Margerite now. S_he reminded herself. _Margerite, the young vamprie from far, far, away who is just staying here for a while._

A little nervously, she toyed with her hair. Carl had instructed her on how to wear it, and it was twisted up into a clip, but so that it had a tail that flopped over the clip and trailed down her neck in ringlet curls. She had put extra make-up on to look paler, her eyes outlined darkly and her lips painted blood red. She felt rather melodramatic, but Carl insisted that was the effect they were going for.

The skirt made her nervous too. Her mother had bought it a very long time ago from Spain; it was red and layered, somewhat like a flamenco dancer's dress. The top was billowy and loose, hanging off her shoulders and leaving them bare, the same as with her arms. She wore several heavy gold bracelets, a ring on each hand- so that her engagement ring didn't seem suspicious, according to Carl -and long gold earrings.

_It's official. I look like a fool._ She decided, taking a deep, steadying breath and then plunging into the bar.

The first thing that hit her nose was the overwhelming scent of blood, so thick it made her feel faint. She steeled her resolve and forced herself to breathe it in deep, like she was enjoying it. A young male nearby smiled at her, walking over to put his arm around her waist and pull her close. Anna smiled flirtatiously and then pushed him away with the same tsking noise she'd heard Aleera make once. He merely smiled at her and was about to move in again when she darted into a passing crowd and towards the bar.

_Stay calm. You're a vampire. You pair off casually with whoever offers you pleasure all the time. Really, you do._ She kept insisting to herself.

_But I want Gabriel. Only Gabriel._ A much tinier part insisted.

Without thinking she sighed and dropped her head into her hands. She had never been alone in this. Velkan had scarcely been gone for a day when Van Helsing walked into her life, and he had been there for a year afterwards, helping her fight her battles. She had always seen herself as strong, independent, a lone crusader of a dying family, but that had been before she knew what it was to be truly alone.

"Sometimes our race is tiring, don't you think?" Said a silky masculine voice to her right. Anna's head shot up and turned to meet the eyes of the one who had spoken. "Especially for one as beautiful as yourself." There was a twinkle in his eyes as he took a drink from his mug.

"Are you trying to be one of those tiring ones?" She still managed to make the accusation sound flirty, for which she gave herself points.

"No. I merely know beauty when I see it."

"Just appraising, then?"

"Yes. I am engaged elsewhere as far as romantic pursuits go."

"And you satisfy yourself with only one?" Anna didn't have to pretend to be surprised by this display of monogamy. After all, Dracula could content himself with no less than three Brides.

"Oh, she is more than satisfying. More than any of us could ever handle. Even without sharing her bed."

Anna felt her heart beat a little faster at that. The light of a zealot was in his eyes.

"Surely not _so_overwhelming. Why, we live in a world of debauchery and decadence and pleasure without price. We live in one of the most extravagant societies left. Tell me the name of this lady love of yours."

"Chaos." He caressed the word in a way beyond description, in a way that a human tongue never could.

"Our mother." Anna breathed out, leaning in. She didn't have to play at being mesmerized either. This could be vital, so it didn't take much to pay attention.

"Yes. Soon, if my spell succeeds, I will have a goddess singing my praises." He shivered and closed his eyes. "It's a heady feeling."

"I'm sure." Her heat was pounding too loud. Surely someone would hear it. It only beat harder when the man began to look closer at her.

"You feel it too." He whispered, leaning forward and placing one cool hand over her heart. Anna wished for a more concealing blouse then, for Gabriel to burst into the room and demand that the strange zealot unhand his fiancee, for this whole godforsaken mess to be done with. "So warm..." The man breathed, his grey eyes slowly changing, shining silver. Ivory fangs brushed his lips.

"Ethan."

Anna's heart stopped at the suddenness of the new voice's interruption. 'Ethan' moved away and turned to look at the woman who had approached.

"Everyone is fed and ready. We should leave now."

"Are the others already there?" He asked.

The blonde woman nodded. "They set up the clearing by the cliffs as you said. They are waiting, and so is our goddess."

Ethan nodded and stood. He cast one last glance at the frozen statue that was Anna and then leaned down to trace the curve of her neck.  
"You are a young one. Your pulse is still so fresh, so alive." He leaned down and brushed lips, fangs and tongue across the artery in her neck. Anna shuddered in revulsion, but he didn't notice. "Yet you will come. Everyone will come. Soon we will be the_only_ society this world knows." So suddenly that had she been leaning on him she would've fallen over, Ethan and his companion left, joined by several others on their way out.

Anna remained still after they were gone, but her mind was running in circles. She couldn't follow them; they'd sense her too easily. This was exactly the sort of thing they'd have used Cathy for: she could've followed them soundlessly, or even gone with them undercover. The gypsy princess hadn't thought about it before, but she missed Cathy almost as much as she missed Gabriel. It was a confusing feeling. How could she miss the woman who was at the source of all this, who had no soul, who had lied to her, who had sent the man she loved into Hell?

_I'm alone now. _She reminded herself harshly, fist clenched under the bar. _No one else matters.  
_  
"Can I get somethin' for ye, miss?" Asked the bartender, leaning near Anna.

"No." She responded with a quiet, deadly edge. "No one can do anything for me now. I'm alone."

Following the path taken by Ethan and his group earlier, she exited. There were plenty of forests and cliffs in Transylvania, but if she followed the world's sense of irony, it would lead her to one particular cliff; a cliff she'd stood on, looking out over a river, whispering to God to help her, because it was the first time she'd found herself alone. That was after Velkan had left her life and before Gabriel walked into it. Now she had to go back there, which was where the irony came in. That cliff embodied loneliness, which she thought she knew when she last went there.

As she found her hidden clothes and ducked into a seemingly empty house to change back into them and began to check her weapons, Anna realized she had no idea what Ethan was even doing in the clearing where she and her brother had once baited a werewolf. He'd mentioned something about a spell that needed to succeed. She had no idea what the spell was for or anything at all- another queer pang of longing struck her as she thought of Cathy's experience with magic -but it didn't matter so much. What mattered was that the woman had said that Chaos was there.

"And who am I to keep a goddess waiting?" Anna asked the cold night air. She borrowed a horse from the stables of an inn, leaving money in its stall and a note saying she'd return it, and headed off without waiting for an answer.

* * *

The night wasn't nearly as captivating as the one when Cathy had saved her life, not nearly as enchanting. Anna was sure there was a reason for that. 

She tethered the horse a safe distance away and began to walk the rest, remembering Velkan walking at her side once. She remembered alternately pleading with him and yelling at him, desperate for her only brother not to use himself as bait for the werewolf.

_"Anna, Dracula let the monster loose to attack us. There is no way he won't attack if it's me." _

"But what about me? Why can't I do it?"

"Because you're my baby sister and I'd go mad watching you tied to that pole-"

"It's not going to be tightly!"

"-without being able to do anything." They came to a stop and Velkan put one hand on each of Anna's shoulders. "Besides, you know you're a better shot than me. If you're tied to a pole and I'm the one with the gun, do you really trust me to shoot the wolf?" There was the old Velkan twinkle in his eye, the same one he'd always had. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, left a kiss on his cheek, and then joined the others.

In the end, Velkan had been the one to shoot the werewolf. He'd been the one tied to the pole, too. And Anna was the one left standing on a lonely cliff, asking the God four hundred years of Valerious dead had never laid eyes on for help.

She shook away the memories and found that deep, quiet place in her mind many used for meditation, cleansing their soul of pain and finding peace. She used it mostly for killing.

After a while she was jogging, jogging but in her mind remaining completely still, poised to strike. She wasn't exactly sure she'd be killing tonight. She wasn't sure how one killed a goddess. Then another memory hit her:

_"Wooden stake." Cathy said suddenly. "A wooden stake ought to do the trick. Like in the old movies."_

She didn't know what a movie was, but she knew now that Cathy may have been dropping a hint. Maybe she sensed that she was starting to give in and wanted the world to have a way out.

Anna found a conveniently shaped branch on the ground and honed its point a little more with the knife from her boot. When she got back to the Valerious Manor she would saw off a table leg and fashion a better one, but for now this would do. For now she had to worry about the flowers she had discovered.

Flowers shouldn't have been a big deal. They were a part of nature. But they weren't a part of_this_ part of nature. She had never seen flowers before, not when she was here with Velkan, and not any of the times afterwards.

They were roses, lush and vibrant as if each individual flower had been given its own personal expert care from the moment it bloomed. They were the kind of flowers that don't grow in untamed wilderness. And what's more, they were blue, the shocking kind of electric blue the sky sometimes takes.

She had another memory, of her mother brushing her hair and telling her about roses. They could be white or red or pink or yellow or even a purple so dark it looked black, but never blue. Many had dreamed of a blue rose, but it had never been found.

Anna shivered. Maybe she wasn't alone after all. Her memories were keeping her good enough company.

She began to move on, more cautiously than before. Then another rose bush appeared to her, and another, and another. Soon there was a trail of them all around her, some so large that she couldn't help but brush them as she walked past. She hissed when one thorn caught the back of her hand, leaving an inch long cut.

Naturally, it was at that moment she heard voices raised in chanting.

Without thinking Anna took out her knife and tore a strip from her blouse, tying it around her hand. Then she kept the knife in one hand and the stake in the other and advanced. She was met with a wall of trees: this was where she and Velkan had said what amounted to their good-byes. Careful, she crept along the side of the clearing and found a tree she could scale. Once secure in her perch, knife away now, she looked down into the clearing.

It was ringed entirely in the impossibly blue roses she'd been seeing, so thick their scent was cloying. It was an odd scent: sweet, but it reminded her of death and decay. Maybe it was the vampires in the clearing.

They wore blue robes. All their eyes glowed blue, as impossibly blue as the roses, and all of them were chanting. They stood in a semi-circle along the edge of the clearing opposite her. There were three on one side with the eerie blue eyes, and then there was Ethan, and then three more to his other side.

Slowly the chanting died down. It had been monotonous; the ceremony was most definitely not winning points for captivation of the audience. Now Ethan stood aside and the woman who had interrupted their conversation at the bar came forward with another woman, bound and struggling, before her. Remorseless, she flung her into the center of the clearing. She cried out and tried to curl up to disguise her nudity. Her brown hair was matted and tangled, and she was lean in the way of those who get just enough to eat but have to work hard to get it. When Ethan's female partner began to approach again, she let out a strangely inhuman whimper.

The vampiress seized the other woman by the hair and forced her to sit up with her head back. It was then that the telltale howl left her throat. The woman was a werewolf, calling out for aid from her pack. A pack that would probably not come. Anna felt her loneliness.  
The vampires didn't care. The six who had been chanting turned to the bushes behind them and began to pluck bowls. They moved in a procession to Ethan, who held a bowl, and one by one began to shred the roses so that their blue petals fell into the bowl. They then threw in the stems.

Ethan pulled a mortar from his robes, like the ones Anna had seen apothecaries use, and began to grind the contents of the bowl surely but steadily. After a moment, he moved forward. His assistant gave their captive's hair an extra hard jerk, causing the mournful baying to turn into a pitiable whimper. Ethan stood above her and raised the bowl. His assistant forced the other woman's mouth open and as the droning chant began anew he poured the now liquid contents of the bowl into her mouth.

The vampiress threw the woman to the ground again, as if she'd touched something distasteful.

Ethan stood back and proclaimed, in a bold voice:

"I offer to you this flesh that is more than mortal but less than immortal. And by it I call forth the poison that unites everyone forever, across space and time: death." With those words the woman gave another small whimper and curled in on herself, skin paling, eyes deadening. She had died frightened and forsaken. "I call forth, by death, those from another age. I call forth Alyssa, high priestess to the goddess Chaos, and Kimber, daughter of Time itself. I call them forth to this poison glen."

With that every rose left in the strange clearing where another werewolf had been once, not so long ago, began to shiver in some unseen wind. The vampiric chanting grew louder and louder, more fervent, blue eyes glowing, as the roses were stripped of their petals and they danced around the clearing in a circling curtain of blue. Faster, faster, faster they swirled, so fast Anna was afraid she'd lose her seat because of the nonexistent wind and then Ethan gave one final piercing cry, the cry vampires made in mourning their dead.

There was a flash that hurt Anna somewhere in the back of her head, and she realized she'd hit it on the tree trunk behind her when she could see again. The six chanters had frozen, their eyes slowly dimming back to their regular colors. Ethan had collapsed to the ground, panting. His assistant appeared unconscious beside him.

The bushes around them had been stripped of every rose petal and they now lay on the ground, beautiful in an aimless, artistic sort of way. The werewolf girl was gone, but in her place stood two other women.

One was fairly tall, slender, with dark brown hair that was perfectly straight and shone whenever the light touched it in a way that reminded Anna of Cathy's hair. Her eyes were a light hazel, with a honey overtone. She might have exuded warmth were it not for the bitterness in her eyes and her face. She wore clothes that reminded Anna of Cathy's as well, what the vampiress would've dubbed 'modern.'

Whereas the first woman was somber, the second was smiling wickedly, looking around herself as eagerly as a child taking in the world for the first time. Her skin was so pale it was nearly luminescent, and her blonde hair was frighteningly light too. Her eyes were a strange shade of purple, inquisitive, but somehow possessing the power to make her shudder. The gypsy princess decided that she must have been the one Ethan referred to as Time's daughter, and that the other must've been Chaos's high priestess.

There was clapping from the shadows, bringing another memory flittering to the surface of Anna's mind. It was one of a certain vampire count. When the clapper came into the light of the clearing, Anna knew that this was the woman he learned all his tricks from.

She was slight of build and height, dressed in a tight bodice that spilled her white cleavage into the light while a swirling skirt adorned her from the waist down. Her hair was black, streaked with white. Eyes that were red where they should've been white and entirely black where there should've been color shone with pleasure. Anna knew, in a way that made the hairs on her neck stand on end, that she was in the presence of a goddess. It was the same presence she'd felt in the clearing the night Cathy saved her.

"My goddess..." Ethan rasped out, reaching out to brush the hem of Chaos's skirts.

The mother of all vampires bent slowly to brush her hand along his face "Ahh, but I said it would be your name that was music to my ears, didn't I?" She crooned. She left a kiss on his forehead and slowly he drifted into unconsciousness too. "Alyssa! Kimber!" She grinned, moving towards the two women. Alyssa appeared to be the dark haired and Kimber the light haired.

"Has the time come, my lady?" 'Kimber' asked, swaying back and forth.

"Yes. It has. And with your mother already helping me, I thought I'd enlist you." Chaos smiled again. She turned to the dark haired one. "Your sister has already done her part, Alyssa. It is time for yours."

'Alyssa' snorted.

"Cathy. She finally gave in, did she? The eternal fighter. I'm glad to see her fall."

Anna leaned forward slightly. Now she could see the slight similarities in Alyssa's face and Cathy's when she thought about it. Alyssa was the high priestess of the goddess living within her sister, and she seemed to hate the woman.

But who was this Kimber's mother, if she was the daughter of time itself? Surely not the Wavewriter? And how was this person already helping?

There was no time for that, only for sliding carefully down the tree and towards the clearing, trying not to think about the awful pounding of her heart as she slowly raised her stake and gathered her nerves.

There was nothing to do but rush into the clearing, kicking up a flurry of blue petals as she did so. In instants she was lying on her back, just as the eight vampires of the ceremony were. Anna pulled herself quickly to her feet to see Chaos standing around a foot away from her, smiling. Kimber was regarding her curiously. Alyssa held in her hands two wicked looking knives.

"Now, who is _this_?" Chaos purred, beginning to stalk in a circle around Anna. Her arm struck and she tried to drive the stake into the goddess's chest, but she found her arm in a lock and herself twisted to the ground.

_Exactly the way Cathy dealt with that man in the bar._ She thought vaguely. Except Cathy hadn't really been about to break the man's arm.

"I am Chaos. Vampire Goddess, Mother of Vampire-kind, the real 'Queen of the Damned,' extraordinaire. Who does that make you?" Chaos smiled maliciously, her breath hot against Anna's neck. A sudden wetness there informed her of the quick flick of the tongue against her skin, mimicking Ethan's earlier action. "I can taste your fear and your anger and your determination, little princess. I remember what it felt like to take you under with my magic. Remember that, remember that you have been in my thrall before, or I will do more than just taste your emotion on the air."

There was a sudden, crushing weight on Anna's chest, but there was nothing physically there. Her breath choked and sputtered in her throat as Chaos's power continued to press in around her, into her, until she could see white in front of her eyes again.

She hit the ground in a daze for the second time in minutes, incapacitated by mere presence. She rolled onto her side and coughed, searching for air, seeing nothing but blue in front of her.

"I let you live because I want competition when I try and destroy this world. I want a game out of this. I expect you to give me one." Chaos's voice came from somewhere behind her and faded by the word. She was walking away as Anna discovered when she rolled onto her back and watched as the goddess left, Alyssa and Kimber flanking her. The eight unconscious vampires, Ethan included, lumbered after them mindlessly, dogs obeying a whistle no one else could here.

"And since I expect a game out of you, I think you might want to take care of that little cut of yours." With that, and Chaos's laughter, the little troop continued to move away.

Anna struggled to her knees and watched them leave, too dazed to try and follow. Now she was remembering that terrifying night, being sucked under by that ageless, seductive power. It had just touched her, forced her into submission, tasted her skin. She shivered and tried to hold herself. She felt violated down to her very core by the raw evil of that presence, that power that, touch.

What cut had Chaos meant?

The princess glanced at her hand and remembered the rose from earlier. It had been the juice of those roses that killed the werewolf girl.  
She ripped off her makeshift bandage and hissed. The tiny cut had turned a nasty shade of green and puffed up. Some sort of white liquid was oozing out of it. The hand was starting to throb.

Anna immediately began to try and suck out the poison. As she spit it on the ground she imagined she was spitting on Chaos, whose laughter still rang in her ears. Then she felt herself falling onto the ground, littered with its blue petals. The useless wooden stake rolled from her hand as her eyes slid closed. She lay in the poison glen, forsaken but not frightened, simply lonely. Even her memories weren't there to keep her company then, as black closed in.

* * *

A/N-- I hope you enjoyed my much delayed update. My usual excuses and apologies for this! On a side note, what I said about the blue rose is in fact true: genetic engineers have been trying tirelessly to create one, but it hasn't worked yet. I took liberty with the poison thing. 

Next chapter we'll see some more of what Chaos's plan is and also how Anna will handle this alone. That was actually a theme I only stumbled upon today. I was quite pleased with it myself! I hope you were!

Anyway, I'll be going in to have my wisdom teeth removed today so I'll be out of it for a bit, but some reviews would certainly make me feel better! _Au revoir_, for now!


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